Second Time Around
by The Better Side
Summary: When Stephanie bumps her head, she awakens to amnesia and a world she can't remember. Now, while trying to recall her memories, she finds herself being lured two very different ways by two very different men and having to choose.....all over again!
1. Prologue

If you're wondering_ (but I'm sure you aren't)_ I'm done with my other story, already bwaha! It's true. I have the rest of the chapters already written out. BOOYAH. So no harm done right? Nope.

Full Summary: When Stephanie bumps her heard, she awakens to amnesia and a world she can't remember. She then finds herself getting lured in two very different directions by two _very_ different men. Will she choose the down to Earth, handsome Joe Morelli or the destructive, sexy Ranger? But I think the real question here is: If you had the chance to choose between the two loves of your life, would you pick the same choice or take a chance at something new?

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**Prologue**

* * *

To be completely honest; I've been through some pretty rough things over the last few years. You could probably expand that time frame and add in my teenage years and childhood as well. It probably started from the day I wished to be an angel and grow wings was when my life started to go downhill. For one, I learned that no five year old would ever grow wings. No matter how hard you strained and prayed. It just wasn't possible. But that didn't stop me from trying to reach the impossible. That didn't stop me from heading towards the path I thought was right even though I could see it was shadowed with pain and torment and that I'd trip and fall on huge, boulders of rocks along the way. Some I barely managed to get back up from.

But that was me: Stephanie Plum.

Not completely logical, not always assertive, not always the most competent but definitely willing to try anything that could save me from debt, jail time or any other unspeakable places I might end up in.

That's the reason why, when I lost my job a while back, I decided to squeeze my ass into my cousin's Bond office and demand I get a job less he wanted his dirty laundry aired. As I looked back on it now, I knew I should have just taken the job at whatever factory my mother had suggested but, _again_, my stubbornness came into effect. I was determined to get back up on my feet without anyone's help.

"I'm freezing my ass off out here!"

Now don't you call me a hypocrite. I said I wanted to get back on my feet without assistance and I accomplished that. I never said I would completely disregard all offers.

The woman who was freezing her ass off beside me, crouched in the bushes, was none other than my partner-in-crime, Lula. I met her a while ago, back when she was a 'ho for lack of a better word. Now, she filed for my cousin, Vinnie, at his Bonds office. Or, more specifically, she tagged along with me to catch FTAs.

This brings me back to my beginning point: about being through a lot of rough things. And I can honestly say that, if it hadn't had been for this job, then none of those hard times would have happened. But then again, I had chose this road. This dangerous, rocky, bumpy, crazy road and I was still traveling down it with one of my tires busted.

I was a bounty hunter. Yes, you heard right. Bond enforcement, if you wanted to get technical. To sum it up; I tracked down people who missed their court dates and dragged them back. They were labeled FTAs because it stood for '_Failure to Appear_'.

At the moment, Lula and I were stalking out one of them through his window. It was dark. It was raining. It was chilly. It was the wrong day to be spying in bushes through a window. But this was my house on the line. I needed to catch a skip or I'd owe _three_ months of rent. The building super, Dillon, was already cutting me a huge break. Probably because I was the only one below eighty eight who lived in the apartment.

The infuriating thing was that instead of being here, I could have been back at home, in my bed.

"Can't we just run up, kick the door down and bust him?" Lula asked, rubbing her arms. She was dressed in a skin tight, leopard print ensemble. It wouldn't have looked that bad if she wasn't at least a million pounds too big for it.

I considered her plan. It was a good one but there was one problem: neither of us knew how to kick down a door.

"Let's wait for him to come outside." I suggested.

"Why would he come outside!?" Lula asked. "It's raining. We shouldn't even be outside. We should have taken off on account of the rain."

"We can't take off."

"Yeah huh. Bounty hunters do it all the time."

I gave her a raised eyebrow. "Like when!?"

"Like forever."

I ignored her and turned my eyes back towards the window. "Oh...hey, where'd he go?" I started to flick my eyes around the little peephole we had cut out in the red, wood fence. Lula snorted from beside me.

"He probably went to bed. Can we go now?"

"Not yet." I told her, staring up at the rather large tree looming over us. I smiled slowly and stood up, tip toeing over to it although my footsteps were pretty much silent in the downpour.

"What are you doing!?"

"I'm going to look and see where he is." I explained to her, reached the trunk of the tree, spit into my hands and wiped them together. This wouldn't be too hard, I coached myself. I use to do this all the time when I was a little kid. Climbing trees was second nature to me. I instantly realized that my thoughts were so far from the truth, God should have struck me. I fell off the tree as a child and it didn't look like I'd have better luck as an adult.

"You can't climb that tree." I heard Lula said with a scoff below me while I scaled it. I was doing pretty well for someone so out of shape. I had my arms around it and was kicking up with my feet. By the time I made it to the top where the branches were, my thighs ached, my stomach hurt and I was out of breath.

I dared a look down at Lula to shoot her a smile and then slowly reached out for a branch. Slowly...slowly...I grabbed it, inched upwards, and swung my legs around to straddle it. For a moment, I lost my balance and thought I'd fall off but I quickly regained it. I breathed in and out, calming the panic in my chest and waiting for it to go away. A beat of silence later, I shot Lula another smile but added a thumbs up this time.

"See? No sweat!"

_CRACK._

My eyes widened and I froze. I saw Lula's eyes get big as well and her mouth came open.

_CRACK._

_That's not what I think it is. That's not what I think it is. That's not what I think it is. That's not what I-_

_CRACK_.

The branch finally buckled and gave way under my weight. I saw the ground rush up to meet me and then nothing but white flashes of pain glittered before my eyes. In the background I heard a very faint voice say,

"See? I told you to lay off those doughnuts."

That was the last thing I remember before darkness clouded my mind and subdued me.

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So, what do you think? Would you like to read more?

PS: I'm thinking about changing POV's of the main characters starting with the next chapter. Think I should? I figure it'll give me a wider variety to write, ya know? Much more fun.

Smiles and giggles until next time.


	2. Chapter One

Thanks to my reviewers of course. Love you alls. Also, to inform you; there will be some scenes from Morelli's POV. Hope that doesn't turn anyone off. 'Cause this is so babe. Oops, I said too much. Ha.

Enough of my rambling and on to the story;

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**_Chapter One_**

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**Ranger's POV:**

Bad news: the one thing I hated more than the color pink.

Yet it revolves around me. My estimate would be that I receive a minimum of five bad reports each day. And that's if I'm having a _good_ day. But nothing, _nothing at all_, scares me more than when something happens to Stephanie Plum.

"What's her condition?"

"I'm not sure." Tank answered stoically.

I kept my gaze forward and remained silent as the car rumbled down the street. I knew it wasn't his fault but I hated curt replies such as that. I needed_ information_. I needed more than three words to keep me cool. But I didn't press. I knew Tank better than most people and if he knew something, he'd tell me in a heartbeat. He had been the one to tell me about her in the first place. It was one of his most redeeming qualities. He was strong, tactical and loyal to a fault. Tank was my right hand man and, at times, one of my best friends.

According to him, Stephanie had fallen from a tree and was in the hospital. That was it. He knew about that only from Lula. It's kind of hard to explain what exactly Tank had with Lula or what he _used_ to have. At one point, they were engaged but that was a huge bust. I guess you could call them friends now. Either way, he was the second person Lula called and _I_ was the _first_ person he called. I had been in a meeting at the moment but quickly rescheduled and hurried out. Now, we were heading to the hospital and I couldn't hide the fact that my fists were shaking.

Only Stephanie.

Only Stephanie could rush me from a meeting, cause me to worry endlessly and cause my composure to slip.

She was the center of danger. Disaster in woman form. A hazard to those around her.

The woman I loved.

I saw the hospital loom in the distance and took an inaudible deep breath so Tank wouldn't see me. I worked hard to show my men to keep calm in the most risky situations. To never panic. To remain in control.

How much of a hypocrite would I be if I fell apart over skittish information?

So I waited until he parked, turned the engine off and extracted the key to move. I opened the door, slid out, closed it and took a split second to close my eyes and calm down. The downpour from earlier had lessened down to a drizzle and the cold water felt good on my face. I let it run rivers down my cheeks and glanced at the car window to see that I resembled a person crying.

I turned away from the image and headed towards the hospital doors, wondering if I could blame the rain if, God Forbid,_ real_ tears arose.

*********

**Morelli's POV:**

Damn.

I bit down hard into my knuckle and stared hard at my shoes, legs spread as I sat forward in one of the most uncomfortable chairs I've ever had the misfortune to sit in. I tell you, if they thought that these seats were going to help people release tension while they waited for a family or friend's medical reports, they were seriously wrong.

"You alright, Morelli?"

I gave Eddie Gazara a fleeting glance and then went back to glaring at my shoes. "No."

I wasn't a man who lie. I was _no_ where close to alright. My girlfriend, the girl I _loved_ was lying in a hospital bed and I had no clue what had happened to her.

I wasn't even allowed in the room to check on her because, supposedly, I wasn't '_family_'. I wanted to punch Gazara for the dumb ass question but thought better of it. It wasn't his fault after all. He was just being the nice guy he was and checking up on me. He was the one who let me know about Stephanie. The call came through about a woman in distress and _damn it_, I had pawned it off on him because _I was too tired_.

I closed my eyes tight and bit down hard on my knuckles. My foot started to tap viciously all on its own and I breathed in deep. I felt Eddie clap a hand on my shoulder. He _was_ allowed in but hadn't gone because either he wanted to make sure I was okay or because he wanted Stephanie's family to go first.

Her father was sitting across from me and although he hadn't spoken the entire time, I stole glances at him and it was obvious he was concerned. I figured her mother and grandmother were already in the room with her. I heard Eddie tell me softly that it'd be okay but that he had to get back on duty and to phone him when they got any news. I could only nod dumbly and watch him walk away.

As soon as he disappeared down the hall, I saw someone new appear. Someone I knew fairly well and was not in the mood to see or speak to, for that matter.

I watched Ranger come to a halt a few feet from where I sat, flick his eyes around the room, say something to his ginormous 'bodyguard', Tank and then glance at me while the huge man approached the desk to gather information, I presume. They both looked tense. They had heard.

I waited a beat before standing up and walking up to him. "Know anything?"

He shook his head.

"Me either." I sighed. "Officer Gazara told me. I was at home sleeping."

"Tank informed me." He was never one for small talk. I saw his eyes pass over Mr. Plum. "Does he know anything?"

I shook my head. "Not a thing. He's been out here with me. We're all in the same boat. I couldn't even get the nurses to tell me why she's here in the first place."

"She fell out of a tree."

My eyes widened. The sad thing was that I wasn't surprised. Only Stephanie. "What was she doing in a_ tree_?"

His shoulders inched upwards slightly. A shrug. The master of emotions. I turned away to stare down the hall. Although I didn't like Ranger, we had a weird sort of bond. The bond originated and ended around Stephanie. I wasn't sure what his relationship with her entitled but I knew one thing: he was attracted to her and she was attracted to him. That was obvious. So obvious at times that I got angry when she tried to play it off. I hated not knowing what went on when they were together. And that wasn't jealousy rearing its ugly head either. It was concern. I considered Ranger to be both emotional and psychologically unstable. He was too dark, too mysterious and too damn cool. _Humans_ weren't capable of some of the shit he did. He was like a fucking...._superhero_. He was Batman. A dark, evil, black Batman.

Tank sided up to him and they had a short, low conversation I couldn't quite catch.

"Well they did tell me where she was. She's in room 65." I offered. "Her mom and Grand mom are back there now."

Ranger took the news with a slight nod. He looked like he was starting to speak but then the doors to the waiting room burst open and we all turned to look at the doctor striding towards us, his white coat flapping out behind him. He stopped before us and looked us up and down.

"Are you friends of the patient?"

We nodded and while her father told him he was a_ part_ of the family.

"Well alright, I'm Doctor Ray." He didn't smile and that bothered me right away. "I have reports on Ms. Plum."

It might have been my imagination but I could have sworn that all four of us men seemed to take in a deep breath to await whatever was to come.

"I'm afraid she's not in the most ideal place. She hit her head pretty bad. It took quite a lot of stitches to get the cut under control. She also lost a lot of blood....." He stopped to sigh. "I'm sorry to tell you but she's in a coma."

********

**Ranger's POV:**

Blood pumped through my veins, echoing painfully in my ears and my vision became blurry for a moment before I could focus on the doctor's sympathetic voice. I was aware of a ringing in my ears, Morelli glaring up at the ceiling, Tank sighing and Frank Plum furrowing his eyebrows.

_She was in a coma. Stephanie was in a coma. From falling out of a fucking tree. Fuck. _

It took me a moment to realize that Dr. Ray was speaking again.

"....vitals are very good. I predict that she will survive. I'm not implying that this isn't serious. Comas are serious matters. But, it doesn't look fatal. I'd give her a few days, maybe a week and she should snap right back. There was no hemorrhaging or critical damage to her brain, which is a big relief." He paused to let us take in the information. "Her mother and grandmother are still in there with her but I'd rather not have too many visitors. _One_ of you can go in to join them...if you want."

"I...I'll sit out...this time." Mr. Plum told us, sounding dazed. He slumped back into his chair and his facial expression went blank. He was in shock. It was understandable. I was in shock as well but handling it better. No emotions were splayed across my face but if anyone looked close enough, they'd see my jaw clenching.

I knew_ exactly_ who'd get to go in if Mr. Plum wasn't. I know who'd get the privlege of seeing Stephanie first.

I turned to Morelli and although I didn't want to, I said with a slightly tight voice, "Go."

He nodded his pale face and walked away. I watched him for a beat before averting my gaze to the wall. It was hard to say so but Morelli was obligated to be by her side. _He_ was the boyfriend, _he_ was the one her parents accepted, _he_ was the more logical choice. And even if I felt angered by it, I'd let him go. I'd let him hold her hand, rub her cheek and talk her through this.

Because when she woke up, _and_ _I had no doubt in my mind that she would_, he'd be the one she'd want to see.

I didn't especially have a bone to pick with Morelli. He was a good cop, a decent human being and a good man. We weren't in good gracious because of my relationship with her but we never confronted each other or got into a fist fight. _Yet_. But as far as I knew, we wouldn't. He obviously loved Stephanie and treated her good.

I just knew I could treat her better.

A rather large hand dropped on my shoulder and I turned to see Tank. I narrowed my eyes at him in surprise and he smiled lightly. "She'll pull through." His words of encouragement.

I offered him a smile that was barely visible and told him to get back to work. My language for '_Thank you, get back to work_.'

He chuckled lowly, nodded once and walked away. I turned my eyes towards a window, watched darkness descend and knew that I wouldn't get a wink of sleep tonight.

* * *

I know its a little angst now but it'll get....happier and better. We all know Ms. Plum won't die....right? Anyway, drop a line and tell me if it was alright. Also, this is my first attempt at trying to get inside Ranger's psyche. Was it passable?

(Wedding Cake: I'll add the next chapters later. After I drive you all crazy with anxiety, haha. :P No really, in a few days.) Jeez, I type alot.

Love you all. Peace and burgers until next time.


	3. Chapter Two

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**_Chapter Two_**

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**Morelli's POV:**

I sucked in a breath when I noticed Stephanie's eyes twitching.

It was happening. After seven days. Seven, long fucking days. A whole damn week since her accident. She'd been moved to the intensive care unit while doctors waited for, what they called, her '_coming back_'.

We all took turns watching her, sitting with her, and talking to her while she slept. And by _we_; I meant her mother, Grandmother, Lula, Connie and me. Others visited her as well but just for a few minutes. It was us five who spent the most time around the hospital. So much, in fact, that I was familiar with the nursing staff. And even though I wasn't getting much sleep, I turned down the offer of taking a few days off. I needed to keep busy. If only so I wouldn't obsess over her health.

Mr. Plum had only seen his daughter once. And after the first time, he never returned. I figured he was either depressed, still in shock or didn't know what to do. I felt for the man but had no time to dwell on it too long. Although I could understand the reaction.

When _I_ first saw Stephanie, I damn near broke down. She was lying in a hospital bed with bandages wrapped around her head, pale skin and closed eyes. For a split second, I mistook her stillness for lifelessness. Apparently, that was how coma patients looked.

Ranger never came back either. He hadn't even dropped by to visit _once _after leaving the first night. I didn't care what he did but I was angered about his lack of concern. Then again, maybe he never came by because someone was constantly around her. But it wasn't important. It just showed him in a new, insensitive spotlight. _Go figure_.

Either way, _it_ was happening on my watch and that was crowding my mind at the moment. I stood up hastily, called for a doctor and leaned over her. My fists clenched and I felt my heart start to beat viciously in my chest.

Her head jerked to the side, her eyelids twitched again and then they came open groggily.

Stephanie was waking up.

I felt like I might faint. I didn't know what to feel, what to say, what to do. I called anxiously for a doctor again and noticed how small my voice sounded.

She groaned and squinted into the light.

I opened my mouth to speak but then broke out in a grin. There was no amount of words that could have explained my emotions at the point. I was flying on air. I was overwhelmed with happiness. I was so over enjoyed it _hurt_.

Stephanie flicked her glazed, disoriented eyes around the room and then landed on me, blinking rapidly. She looked confused and in pain. I could see why. The fresh bandage around her head cut down to cover half of her left eye so it stayed narrowed while her other opened slightly larger while she studied me.

"Stephanie?" I asked softly, attempting to speak through my dry throat. It came out scratchy and rough.

I saw her arm twitch and her arm bended slightly under the sheets. It took me a minute to realize what she was doing: flexing her stiff joints.

I grinned wide. She was okay. She was awake. She could move. This was better then alright. This was great. This was absolutely fantastic after learning about all the side effects a person in a coma could obtain after waking up; brain damage, hearing loss, being paralyzed. I knew I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions and assumed that movement meant she was back to normal but I couldn't help myself. My heart was swelling and ready to burst out of my chest.

Stephanie was _awake_. She had '_come back_'.

So I bent down and planted a kiss on her forehead. She paused for a moment and stared at me with a cocked head while I straightened and said, "Steph...how are you feeling?"

I saw her move her knee again and then a sudden jolt of terror ran up my spine. What...what if she couldn't speak? What if she actually _couldn't_ hear? Maybe that was why she was looking at me so weird and not responding. Oh shit, where were the fucking doctors?! Damn it.

But before I could turn on my heel and yell out for help again, something stopped me. Something quite hard, painful and abrupt.

Stephanie had her knee completely bent, aimed and crushed forcefully _into my balls_.

I heard the nurses shuffle into the room in time to see me strain out a, "_Fuck_." and fall to the ground holding my assailed parts.

"Serves you right, Morelli." I heard a hoarse voice say. A strangely familiar hoarse voice. _Stephanie's voice_! "That'll teach you to learn some boundaries. I should have backed up and ran you over again with my dad's Buick."

*********

**Stephanie's POV:**

I'm not one to jump to conclusions but something was seriously off here.

First, I wake up to the most blinding pain I've ever experience in my life. Pain that's swirling around my head and pulsating into my eyes, making them burn.

Then, I see _Morelli_. Joe Morelli. Psh, what a jerk. I hadn't seen that little scumbag since I ran him over with my father's Buick. After he stole my childhood, wrote rumors on the walls of restaurants and never called me. What the hell had possessed him to _kiss_ me? Albeit, on my forehead but still. Kicking him in the gonads felt way too much better than physical pain should have.

Okay, so maybe I was over exaggerating. I mean, that had been when we were kids in high school. Which brought me back to the obvious question: What the hell was he doing _here_? _With me_?

Apparently, I was in a hospital. I deduced that after staring at the white walls and of course, the nurses who had scurried in and raced out. Why was I here? I didn't know but the pain in my forehead was one guess. How'd I get here? No clue. Hopefully, it had nothing to do with Morelli.

I turned my head when a man came in, dressed in a long white coat with glasses. A doctor. I sighed but it came out as a groan. My joints felt stiff, achy and kneeing Morelli had left my knee throbbing.

But it was worth it.

"Hello, I'm Dr. Ray." The man smiled patronizingly. I wanted to grimace but my face hurt. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Sore." I rasped out. "I'm really sore."

"Oh well that's understandable. I'll give you another dose of anesthesia to dull the pain."

Awesome. "Why am I here?" My voice sounded low and...weird. As if I hadn't used it in a while. My throat was dry and scratchy.

"You....you don't remember?"

I shook my head slowly and my neck screamed in protest while it throbbed with every movement. I moaned again and slowly brought my arm up to massage it a little. I figured we should get through the initial questions.

Dr. Ray replied, almost solemnly, "You suffered a blow to head. Not too big but large enough to create slight problems. You've been in a coma for a week now. "

_WHOA-OH._ A coma? For a week!? I blinked up at him in disbelief. I never went into comas! What could have possibly caused me to go into a coma? Oh man, weren't comas' serious? I was gonna die! Wait no....people in comas didn't die _after_ they woke up....right? "How...how'd that happen?"

The doctor gave me a long hard stare and then said, "I'm not sure. You were brought in by a friend." He then leaned down towards me. "You can't recall anything about the accident? _Anything_ at all?"

"No." I told him dazedly.

He straightened up, frowned and then sighed. "Ms. Plum, I believe you have amnesia."

"Amnesia?"

"Yes. Loss of memory."

I froze for a beat before my face fell and I stared at him like he was crazy. I wanted to disagree and tell him I was okay but knew that he was right. It was obvious, after all. I didn't even know why I was here or how I had gotten here. "..Is it serious?"

"Oh no, not at all. It's actually normal for a patient who has had a head injury to have amnesia." He smiled warmly. "Don't worry; you'll get over it in a few weeks."

A few weeks? A few weeks sounded like a long time. I didn't know what to think or what I _wasn't_ thinking of. I closed my eyes, sat back and let out a huge sigh. Just my luck.

"Your mother is outside. I'll inform her of your condition and then you can see her, okay?"

My mom was here!? Oh jeez, this must have really been bad. I smiled shakily at the doctor and he flounced out. I inhaled, exhaled and summed up what I knew at the moment.

I had amnesia. That explained all my confusion.

I had a head injury. The explained the pain.

I wasn't going to die. Just good luck, I suppose. Something I almost _never_ got to experience.

I wasn't the _only_ one experiencing pain at the moment.

A grin spread across my face at the memory of Morelli falling onto the ground. Now, that was one thing I was _glad_ I could remember.

**********

**Ranger's POV:**

Stephanie was up, according to a hysterical Lula. It took me nearly half an hour to decipher what the hell she was saying through her rapid speech. The large woman was either a good actor or emotional. But Lula had been my prime source of information through the last week. She told me how Stephanie's vitals were doing, what her doctor said and anything else.

It was unnecessary however considering the fact that I visited Stephanie on my own time. When everyone was either away or sleeping. But if I wanted to keep up the charade, I needed to consult Lula and make her think I was concerned but not _overly_ concerned. That was _me_. In other's eyes. Composed, calm, cool, collected, indifferent. It took a while for me to establish that image and it'd be hard to define it over again if I suddenly broke down.

But this was Stephanie. And she was the only person who could completely demolish my attitude and leave me in disarray.

So I broke all the restrictions I had made over the last week, barged into the hospital and headed towards her room immediately.

I came to a stop when I spotted a group of people huddled outside it. Her mother, Lula and....Morelli who looked to be hunched over in what looked like pain, off to the side. I walked up behind them but no one seemed to notice.

"It's fairly common with head trauma patients awakening from comas." Dr. Ray was explaining. "But I'm sure it's not permanent. It will go away with time."

"Well, how long will it take?!" Stephanie's mother exclaimed, wringing her hands. Her face was a mask of concern.

"Give or take, a few weeks. You just have to patient."

I watched her mother shake her head and put a hand over her mouth. Lula frowned and said; "Shit." and Morelli looked like he was going to pass out. I decided it was time for me to speak up. "_What_ is going to last for a few weeks?"

Heads turned and all their eyes locked on me and the doctor cleared his throat, smiled tight and replied with, "Her amnesia."

Fuck. That didn't sound good.

********

**Morelli's POV:**

"She doesn't remember anything after losing her job at E.E Martin." Mrs. Plum informed us while she exited the door to Stephanie's room. The elder woman didn't look as nervous but her face was still a little pale. "Her head wound is healing but it still needs to be medicated. Besides that, she's fine."

I sighed and stared down at my shoe. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Ranger's mouth twitch and Lula pursed her lips. None of us knew how much she knew, _who_ she knew or what she remembered so we had all agreed to let her mom go in alone.

It all made sense now. The reason why she attacked me.

She didn't remember chasing me down as a skip when I was accused for murder. She didn't remember helping me nab who had really done it. She didn't remember a damn thing after that. All the times we were together, our conversations, our kisses...

I balled my hands into fists, found the nearest wall and sent it flying. All she remembered was me taking her virginity at the bakery shop and gunning me down a few years later. This was just great.

_Just fucking great_.

*********

**Ranger's POV:**

I turned to stare down the hallway and held back a sigh. I could hear Morelli's pounding, Lula and Mrs. Plum talking but it was all faint and slowly drifting away until the world became silent.

Stephanie didn't know me. Didn't know my name, age, or even that I _existed_.

It could have been worst though. Much worst. And it was temporary which shouldn't be that bad. Yet I couldn't help but feel angry. I _hated_ not being in control. And what more could cripple my control than amnesia ruining my relationship with Stephanie. It was like being extracted from someone's life without a single warning.

What was I suppose to do? What was I _expected_ to do?

Morelli had it easy. Stephanie might not _like_ him now but she did _remember_ him.

Sound came back to my ears a beat later and I turned towards the door leading to her room.

Glimpses of Morelli flickered in my peripheral vision. He ceased his blows on the walls, breathed in deep and leaned against it almost pitifully. I narrowed my eyes slightly, took in his miserable expression and a realization suddenly hit me: He was just as mad as I was.

_He didn't think she'd want him anymore._

I smiled lightly to myself. I'd let him try first. I'd let him comfort her, explain to her what had transpired between them in the gap she couldn't recall, be the loyal boyfriend.

And I'd be there when he failed to win her heart all over again. But, when her memory came back, she wouldn't be going back to him again. Because, by then, she'll already be_ mine_.

Harsh? Maybe.

Impossible? Not at all.

Achievable? For me, anything was.

* * *

Man, this chapter was harder than I'd thought it be. UGH. I really hope someone liked it. It'll get _better_ of course. Stick around for more!

Or not :D

Giggles and Hearthrobs until next time.


	4. Chapter Three

* * *

**_Chapter Three_**

* * *

**Stephanie's POV:**

According to Dr. Ray, I could get out of this place in a couple hours which was a good thing unless you counted the multiple tests I'd have to go through for it to be so. Either way, I wanted out. I hated hospitals. They reminded me of the sick. My mom had came in earlier on to ask me a weird amount of questions, told me she'd be back and then left out. I hadn't gotten to ask her what I wanted to know. Like if she knew why I was here, what had happened, where dad and Grandma Mazur were since I was quite sure that, if my mom had come down, they would have wanted to also.

Either that or they were at home sleeping, eating and watching T.V. That was my family. Daughter goes into a coma and they eat doughnuts.

The ache in my head had drizzled down considerably and I was getting more agile with moving my limbs so it didn't hurt when I turned towards the door when it opened. I smiled, expecting it to be my mother.

I frowned when I saw who it was.

"Hey."

I glared.

Morelli did a little roll of his eyes and stepped towards me. I cursed mentally because he wasn't walking with a limp. Shame.

"I heard you have amnesia."

"Yeah so, tell me again, _why are you here_?"

He flinched slightly from my tone and I smiled. Hah. Served him right. "Listen," Morelli started, moving a bit closer. "I know you probably don't remember...I mean, I _know_ you don't remember...but uh....we kinda...we're friends now."

I furrowed my eyebrows at him. No way! "Says who?"

He sighed. "Just trust me on this, alright?"

I most certainly did not want to trust him. I narrowed my eyes and surveyed his profile. He was taller then I remembered. More muscular, tanner, longer hair, scar running down his eyebrow. Still devilishly handsome in his tight jeans...

_Stephanie Plum, you do not want to go down that same road again!_

"Why would I trust you?" I spat out angrily.

"Don't you think you're being a little...juvenile?" He grinned, putting his hands in hips pockets. My eyes flashed angrily and I made a lame attempt to sit up. "I mean, come on. That was the past. I'm a better man now."

"Oh, really?" Yeah right. Joe Morelli had been the bad boy on campus. The jerk every girl wanted but never really got. I'd believe he became a better man when he pulled out a badge and said he had joined the police force. I snorted in laughter. Hah! Morelli as a policeman? Hilarious!

I watched him reach in his pocket and flip open something. My eyes widened. A badge. "Well for one, I'm more responsible. I'm a cop now."

Shit. Maybe I _was_ over reacting. He was at least twenty years older then his teenage self now. People grew and changed. _Shit_. "Wait...so...by friends, you mean...we were close before my accident?"

He grinned. "More or less."

I squinted suspiciously at him. I didn't like his smile. Well yeah, it was cute...but dangerous looking. I rolled my eyes to the top of my head and sighed.

"You shouldn't do that." Morelli advised. "It'll give you a headache."

"You're already giving me a headache."

"Ouch."

The door came open again and I welcomed the intruder with a forced smile. The smile vanished again however when I saw that it was a rather large, black women with bleached blond hair and skin tight clothes. Yikes. She wasn't a nurse was she? The woman gave Morelli a look and he almost looked bashful. I blinked and watched her stroll over to me.

"Wow, you don't look so good." She told me, shaking her head. "It's a shame you didn't listen to me about the tree."

"What tree?"

"The tree you fell out of."

So I fell out of a tree to get here!? Oh man. I covered my face with my hands and groaned. Sadly enough, that sounded like me. Clumsy, foolish and dumb. "What was I doing in a tree?"

"Looking for a skip. I told you it was too wet and cold. I told you we should have gone home."

"What the hell is a skip?"

She only waved it off. "You'll figure out later."

I gave her weary look. "So you're the friend the doctor was talking about? You brought me in?"

"Damn skippy." She hiked up her already-too-short dress and smiled. "By the way, I'm real sorry about your amnesia. I would have tried to catch you but I didn't want to ruin my new outfit."

I stared at her with a mixture of disbelief and amusement. What kind of friend was that? "And your name is...?"

She pursed her lips. "Oh shit. I forgot you don't remember me. I'm Lula." She did a little pose that could have resembled a Charlie's angel. "I'm one of your best friends, partner-in-crimes, the real deal. You'll get used to me, don't worry. Everyone does."

Honestly, I don't think I could get used to any of this. All I remembered was getting fired and heading to my parents house then BOOM; nothing but black and darkness after that. Now I awaken to find that Morelli and I weren't feuding anymore and _Queen Latifah_ was my best friend. Amnesia sucked. "Uh...is there anyone _else_ I should know about?"

I saw Morelli frown and Lula shrugged. "Plenty. But you'll meet them again later."

I crossed my fingers and prayed that I hadn't befriended a clown or a convict or something much worst: Joyce Barnhardt. She was my arch enemy all through high school and still pretty damn annoying. The last time I saw her was when she was on top of my husband, Dickie Orr, naked. I sucked in a deep breath. Fuck, I didn't talk to Dickie now did I!? I opened my mouth to ask but was too afraid of the answer so just shut it again.

My mom entered a beat later, looked around and then came towards me. "You feeling alright sweetie? Your Grandma called. She was at bingo and said she'd come over right away but I told her not to since the doctor said you'd be getting released soon."

"What about dad?"

A weird look came over my mom's face. A look I had never seen on her so couldn't distinguish. "He's...he's at home waiting for you." I decided to leave it at that and not ask anymore questions about that.

Lula spoke up. "Well, I gotta get going." She turned to me. "I'll be back to show you the ropes. You'll be at your apartment right?"

I nodded dumbly. I was guessing that the first place I'd go after getting out of here was to my apartment to lie down. So how the hell did she know where I stayed....Oh right, she used to be my friend. Dur. But what the hell were the ropes? She seemed satisfied with my nod, told the others goodbye, wished me good will and exited out.

My mom kissed my forehead. "I hate to leave you Stephanie but I have to pick up your Grandmother and fix dinner. Will you be okay? I could always stay here and wait for you. You can even stay at the house with us if you-"

"It's okay mom. I'll be fine." I smiled reassuringly. Nothing in the world, not bomb threats, family deaths or a daughter coming out of a coma could stop dinner at six in the burg. I told her I'd make it home just fine, that I was okay, that nothing hurt anymore. It took me at least thirty minutes to convince her. She sighed, hugged me and told me she loved me. Very emotional for my mom who, in all my years of living, had never told me so before. It wasn't that she didn't like me. It was more like I always did things that disappointed her. Like falling out of trees for instances.

She left out, shooting me a small smile before closing the door.

Which left me in the room with Morelli once again.

I watched him grin, dig in his pocket and pull out car keys. "These are yours. Lula gave them to me." He cautiously approached and sat them in my hand. "It belongs to a blue Lincoln's town car."

"My car?"

"Yep."

I raised my eyebrows and stuck the keys in my pocket. If I could afford a car then I must have had a new job right?

"I could drive you home after you're released if you want."

I gave him a weird look. "No, thank you, Morelli. I'll be able to drive just fine."

Morelli sighed. "Okay fine, I lied. Those car keys belong to my car. You don't have one. It blew up."

My eyes bugled out of their sockets. "Blew up!?"

A smirk hovered over his mouth and he rocked back on his heels. "Yeah. That happens a lot with you. You'll get used to it."

Damn it, why did everyone keep telling me that? Used to my cars blowing up!? What kind of idiotic phrase was that!? "I don't want..."I sighed, retrieved the car keys and offered them to him."You don't have to-"

"How else are you going to get home?"

He had a point. I had no car presumably, my mom was gone, Lula was gone and Morelli was the only person left who I 'knew'. It then occurred to me that my mother probably left because she expected me to ride home with Morelli. Damn it, I should have asked her about our relationship. And there was no doubt in my mind that she knew. Gossip in the blue collar neighborhood my family lived in, _the Burg_, spread faster than a wildfire. I was pretty sure there had to be rumors about us. Mostly because the smallest thing could be over exaggerated in this city.

"I'll catch a cab."

"Do you even have money?"

I didn't answer that because I didn't really know. I didn't see my purse anywhere in sight and my pockets were empty so I was going with _'no'_ but I wouldn't admit that to him.

Morelli shook his head. "What is so wrong with me driving you home?"

"I don't like you."

"Girls who hold grudges aren't very attractive."

I glared hard at him. "Do I look like I care? Besides, I don't really know you and I don't get into cars with random strangers."

"Actually, I think you know me very well."

The implications in his words were enough for me to realize what he was talking about and I clenched my hands into fists. "We were kids back then. If I knew you were such a jerk, I wouldn't have fallen for your charm."

His face lit up. "So you think I'm charming?"

I groaned. This was going to be a hassle already.

"Come on, you owe me this compliment."

"How do you figure?" I asked.

"I might not have kids because of you. I didn't deserve that kick."

_Oh I beg to differ_. I gave him a blank stare. "Okay fine, you're charming."

He grinned wide. "So you're letting me drive you home?"

"No."

"Why not?

"Because I still don't like you."

Morelli put a hand to his forehead. "What is it gonna take to win you over again?

"Time. We might have been close but, at the moment, I don't remember. So for the time being, we _aren't_ anymore. Maybe when I get my memory back, we will again or maybe I might come around after I try to digest all of this but for now, back off, will you?"

Morelli only grinned. "Sure thing." Then he walked out. Just like that. Without another word.

I blinked in shock. Wow, he took that pretty well. He probably respected my words and knew I needed space. Hm, so maybe he _really_ had changed.

Either that or he was waiting outside the door for me to come out.

*******

Turns out that Morelli wasn't outside the door when I came out and he didn't come by again which was a relief after being put through test after test. I had been prodded, poked, scanned, everything. There was no serious brain damage, nerve damage or anything else so they released me a few hours later. In that time period, my mom and Grandma Mazur visited a few times and called. I told them I was still fine and wanted to drive home myself. I was grateful for the fact that they accepted my request without protest. Apparently, they didn't know my car had blown up either.

Don't get me wrong, I loved my family. But they were a little overbearing. If I stayed with them, they'd drive me insane. I did promise to drop by their house first thing tomorrow morning though.

I breathed in the fresh air as soon as I exited from the hospital's large double doors and looked around. I was out in the real world again. Yay. Without bandages around my head, without a scar to show for the accident, without pain.....and without a mode of transportation.

I frowned. I really should have just taken up someone's offer of a ride. Jeez Steph, not your best move. I blame it on the head injury.

I turned towards the sidewalk but bumped into something and stumbled back. I groaned, rubbed my head and blinked up at the object in my way.

It was a man.

A big, muscular man dressed in all black with combat boots on, dark, brown eyes and a cap the covered the top part of his short, silky-looking hair.

He looked pretty scary but _definitely_ hot.

I smiled nervously. "Oh...sorry about that I...didn't see you there." Probably because his flawless brown skin blended in with the dark that was rapidly descending. I saw his lip twitch and he tilted his head down to get a better look at me.

"Need a ride?"

I blinked. I had never been offered a ride by a hot guy before. That _always_ spelled trouble."Uh...no I'm fine...my car is-"

"Stephanie, you don't have a car."

My instinct kicked in and I took a step back. "How do you know my...." Amnesia. Right. He must have knew me but I didn't know him. "Who are you?"

He was giving me a ghost of a smile. "You can call me Ranger."

*******

**Ranger's POV:**

She was afraid of me, that much was certain. It was expected. After all, I wasn't using as much tact as I could have been. Not that it mattered. My tall frame and dark clothes would have frightened anyone. My appearance was only one route I used to strike fear. I usually did it on purpose.

But now it was bothering me. I didn't want to scare Stephanie. At least, not this way. So I stepped back as well to give her appropriate space: too far away to be a threat but still close enough to continue the conversation. The conversation with which I had started but didn't know where to lead. I wasn't going to overload her with everything but I sure as hell wouldn't let her leave here until she knew a few keys things. Most importantly: my name.

And now that I had that covered, I was improvising. Not my strong suit. I planned out everything, considered angles, remained in command.

I didn't ramble on before a woman like a high school teenager.

Stephanie raised an eyebrow and I was relieved when she spoke again. "Ranger? What is that, a street name?"

"Precisely."

"And your real name?"

I just stared at her and twitched my lips into a smile. She cocked her head to the side. She looked better now that she was awake. More color in her cheeks, not as fragile. As if Stephanie could ever come across as fragile. She was all hard determination with a mountain of stubbornness. But I could see past her act. She was biting her lip and studying me warily. She didn't trust me. So I didn't tell her my real name. Not until she let down her guard and who knew how long that would be.

"You do have a real name don't you?"

"Doesn't everyone?"

"So what is it?"

"Classified."

Stephanie rolled her eyes. "Oh this is _awesome_. You're the secretive type. Well Mr. Ranger, I'm guessing that you knew me before the accident?" She waited for my reply and when I didn't give her one, she frowned. "Or do you always just wait outside of hospitals and offer women rides?"

I had to smile at that. Same sense of humor. "Who's to know?" She narrowed her eyes and I thought I went too far. Teasing her had always been fun before but that was when _she_ had liked it as well. "I'm not a rapist if that's what you think."

"I never thought that."

"So what did you think?"

Her blue eyes stared into mines for a full minute before she replied with, "I don't know. I mean, if you wanted to hurt me, you would have.....unless of course you're waiting for me to walk away so you can follow me home and kill me."

Leave it to her to consider such actions with a flat voice. "We did know each other before the accident."

She eyed me carefully. "Oh my god, please don't tell me you're a gang member looking to collect on money that I owe you."

Did I honestly look _that_ damn intimidating? I gave her a light shake of my head and her shoulders slumped in relief. "You don't have to worry about that. You barely ever have money."

Stephanie's eyes narrowed but she let it go with a scoff. "So....what were we? Friends? Business workers......mob bosses?"

I chuckled softly. "Two out of three. More or less."

Stephanie put hands on hips. "Which two?"

"I'll leave that for you to decide."

She gave me a once over and I saw a flicker of apprehension appear on her face. "I'm not a mob boss am I?"

"You don't even like guns."

She jerked her head up to stare at me in amazement. "How do you know that?"

"I told you already. We were friends."

I saw her retain the information and mull it over. I could almost see the gears shifting in her head while she imagined it. "How close were we?"

"Pretty close."

She bit her lip and I smirked. "We weren't...romantically involved were we?"

My smile fell. It was a hard question to answer. Our relationship hadn't been the most simple. It was long, complicated and something that only Stephanie and I could explain. The _old_ Stephanie that is. So I just opted with, "No. We weren't." It wasn't an outright lie after all. Her significant other had been Morelli. I'm surprised he hadn't told her that.

She blew out a sigh but it didn't strike me as one of relief. "First I figure out me and Morelli were friends and now..._this_." Yeah, so he really hadn't told her. Wrong move. That left me a big opening. "Not to be insulting but....do you always wear black? It's kind of creepy."

"It's my favorite color."

"You look like a serial killer."

"I thought you said you didn't think I was dangerous."

"_No_. I said I didn't think you were a rapist." She glanced at her watch and then looked back at me. "Listen, I have to go. It was uh...nice talking to you but-"

"How do you expect to go anywhere with no vehicle?"

"I heard walking was good for you."

"Right." I gave her a lop sided smile, turned and beeped my car alarm off. The lights on my BMW flashed. "Get in."

**********

**Stephanie's POV:**

I gaped at him with wide eyes. This guy must have been joking. First, he appeared out of thin air looking very shady. Then he toys with me, teases me, tells me we were friends, tells me his street name but not his real name, and then orders me to get in his car. He must not have been the best at making first impressions. He was insane. He _had_ to be a figment of my imagination. Dark, handsome men with sleek, awesome looking cars didn't gravitate towards me. How was I suppose to trust a man who didn't tell me a damn thing about him even if we had been, supposedly, _very close_?

Not only that but he reeked of masculinity and '_bad boy_' status. I knew enough of my experience with Morelli to know that men like that didn't connect positively with me.

I found myself pondering how our relationship might have looked before my fall but, for the love of all things Holy, I couldn't see him in_ my_ world. I couldn't see him in my mundane, dumb, uneventful, dysfunctional life. He looked like he should have been in the Army or the Marines. Doing something large. Something exciting. Something with handsome people. Something that couldn't possibly cross paths with _me_.

"You can't tell me what to do!" I finally exclaimed with a frown, gaining my voice back. "Besides, you're a stranger to me at the moment and I don't get into cars with strangers."

"Is that what you told Morelli?"

I was speechless. _How had he known that_? Was I that predictable? "Wait...you know Morelli?"

"You could say that."

"Are you always this evasive!?" _Jeez_, he couldn't even give me a straight answer.

"Mostly."

I felt an eye twitch coming on. "I'm going to be truthful here: I don't trust you." _Who would?_

"I figured."

I wanted to punch him in the gut. He was too smooth, too calm, too damn good looking to be true. And annoying to boot. But not the arrogant annoying. The quiet, closed off annoying. The worst kind. "So how about you leave me alone?" I asked, a bit too harshly then intended.

"Is that what you want?" He asked in that dumb, irritating _sexy velvet_ voice of his. I saw the smile flicker on his lips. The smile that wasn't really a smile. Like he was thinking of smiling but didn't know how.

I pondered his question. I suppose I did want him to leave but...where would that leave me? Stranded. I had lied before. I didn't want to walk. _Walking sucked_. I could have called my mom but she would just push me into staying with her for the night and I'd have to listen to Grandma Mazur's unearthly snoring. I could call that Lula gal but...well; she had seemed in a rush before. She was busy. I didn't want to be a bother.

So Ranger was my only hope. A dark, secretive, good looking, maniac lookalike was my only ride home. What luck.

Maybe I was being a little hypocritical. I mean, I told Morelli to buzz off but was grudgingly accepting Ranger's help. At least I _knew_ Morelli. What could posses me to get in a car with someone whom I didn't know, didn't trust completely, had the power to infuriate me within the first few minutes of our conversation without even_ saying_ that much and was very attractive?

I think the real question came down to this: what would I risk? Passing out from walking miles to my apartment or riding in the car with _this guy_?

"If you try anything funny at all, I'll kick you in the balls." At the end, it was my own fault. I had ruined all my other opportunities at getting a ride.

He gave me a look and there was no mistaking the smirk tugging at the corner of his lips. "I'll keep that in mind."

* * *

Hah.

^_^ Let me know if you liked, hated, blah. Feedback! I want it. And thanks for the reviews on the last chapter! You are loved for it.


	5. Chapter Four

* * *

**_Chapter Four_**

* * *

_Stephanie_

Ten minutes into the ride I learned something: This Ranger guy wasn't the most talkative human being. And the only thing I hated more than silence was an awkward silence and this was most definitely awkward. I reached out my hand to turn on the radio, paused and then thought better of it. The inside of his car wasn't as sleek and simple as the outside. There were all kind of buttons and gadgets I've never seen in cars before. I didn't want to press a button and catapult myself out of the seat.

So I folded my hands in my lap and tried to be inconspicuous while I snuck glances at him. His eyes were forward, one hand was on the wheel and his other was lazily lying beside his thigh. Relaxed but in control.

"What?"

I jumped from the sudden sound and hit my head on the chair. "Uh...nothing."

"You were staring at me."

There was no way he could have seen me. Go with the obvious answer and deny. "No I wasn't."

"I saw you."

"You couldn't have 'cause I wasn't." _You're not guilty, Steph, until proven otherwise_. I saw his eyes glance my way and a smile appeared on his lips. "I WASN'T!"

"Fine."

_Jeez, get a grip. You're getting angry over something you're lying about_. He turned his eyes back to the road. _Keep the conversation going_! "I wasn't staring, you know. Just because you're good looking doesn't mean I'm attracted to you." _SHUT UP. You're talking too much now! Abort the mission! Did you just call him good looking?!_

Ranger came to a red light and turned to stare at me. I avoided eye contact and peered out the window to hide my blush. "Did you just call me good looking?"

"No."

"I heard you."

I felt my eye twitch. Damn it, what was the matter with me? Change the subject. Change it! "So, how do you know Morelli?" _Egad woman, is that the best topic you could think of? Morelli!?_

The light turned green and Ranger turned a corner. He stayed silent for a beat before saying, "It's a small town."

I left it at that. I didn't want to talk about Morelli anyway. "So...how old are you?"

"Are we going to play twenty questions here?"

"I just want to know about the strange man who's driving me home. I deserve that much, right?" His reaction seemed to say otherwise. I waited for a reply but nothing came. "Hello?! Are you still with me?"

"What do you want to know?"

I mentally cracked my knuckles. Game time. "How old are you?"

"Two months older than you."

"Are you black?"

"Cuban."

"Your _real_ name?"

A pause. "Carlos."

"Are you married?"

"No."

"Ever been married?"

"Once."

_Jackpot_. "Have any kids?"

"One. Now are you finished?"

Was he kidding? I barely got any information from that. I'm not sure why I was so intrigued by his persona. I guess the stories about girls falling for the bad types were true. Something about him...the way he looked and the way he carried himself and the way he..."What cologne do you use?"

I saw his mouth twitch and the car came to a stop. "It's not cologne. It's body wash. Bulgari."

I made a mental note to go to a supermarket and buy some. I turned to look out the window and was both surprised and disappointed to see that we were already at my apartment. One part of me wanted to dig into Mr. Mystery more and the other part wanted to crawl into bed because the painkillers were wearing off and my head was throbbing. I opted on going home.

I massaged my head and opened the car door. "Well, I'm off. I'll see you...whenever." Not my best goodbye but come on, I was exhausted. Ranger smiled but didn't say anything so I took that as his way of saying bye, got out and trudged upstairs to my apartment.

As soon as I hit the bed, I fell asleep.

*********

_Ranger_

Damn it all.

I watched Stephanie slump over to her apartment and disappear inside. Perfect opportunity. I had the perfect opportunity to offer helping her inside and I fucked it all up by sitting there like a dumbass and smiling. Then again, she might not have accepted my help. I wasn't sure how the hell she viewed me at the moment but if I had to guess, I'd go with morbid curiosity with a sense of intimidation.

At least she still thought I was good looking and liked my body wash.

**********

_Stephanie_

I awoke to the sound of someone thumping about in my apartment. I rubbed at my eyes, grabbed the closest weapon at my disposal, which happened to be my shoe and tip toed out with a beating heart.

When I poked my head into the kitchen, I saw who the intruder was.

Lula.

She was dressed in an outfit that resembled a lady bug, had a purse on her shoulder and had her head in my refrigerator.

"What are you doing here!? How'd you get in my house?"

She turned to look at me and tsked. "You aint got no cake in here? Or pie? Or subs?"

I didn't? I stomped over to her and checked inside. Well by damn, it was empty! "What the-?" The last thing I remembered was that my fridge and cabinets were stocked. I twirled around and went to search for any signs of food in my home.

Nothing.

"What..what have I been doing?" I asked no one in particular while I leaned on the counter.

"Don't worry. You probably just need to catch another skip. Then you'll have some money to buy food."

There she went again. Talking about skips. This woman was insane. "What's a skip?"

"A FTA. You know, failure to appear. Hell, you've been doing this for-" She paused and then said, "Ohh yeah, I forgot. Amnesia."

Right. "So, I _do_ have a job?"

"Yes sirree. A fine one at that. Well...not that fine but pretty good. Go get dressed so we can go. I need a sub."

"I don't have to wear a suit or uniform do I?"

"Hell no."

I sighed in relief and then went to do as told. The question of my occupation was still buzzing around in my head. I could only imagine what job I had that involved the heavyset black woman in the other room.

"And don't forget your mace and hand cuffs!" I heard her scream.

My eyes widened and I froze. I felt a cold sweat break out on my forehead and had to put my head between my knees to calm down. As soon as I got in the shower, I prayed to God that I hadn't taken a job as a stripper.

* * *

Sorry for it being so short. I promise the next chapter will be much longer.


	6. Chapter Five

* * *

**_Chapter Five_**

* * *

_Ranger_

I was trying too hard, that was the problem.

This wasn't like me. I _never_ tried too hard because I never had to. It was easier when our relationship had started as friends and progressed. It was harder when she forgot it all and I had to start building it all over again with all the knowledge of the past. So I was coming off too abrasive.

Damn it. I'm thinking about it too much. About _her_ too much. Obsessing over what to say when I saw her again, how to act, how to go about being friendly, what to do. I felt foreign in my own skin. I'm not used to being the pursuer.

I drummed my hands along the desk and held back a sigh.

"Boss?"

Tank was standing before my cubicle, hands on hips, looking confused.

"You okay?"

Oh hell, I must have looked pretty bad if Tank was randomly questioning me. Straightening in my seat, I put on my best I'm-indifferent look and nodded slightly.

"You sure? You were kinda...sighing and muttering to yourself."

Damn it, I was doing that out loud? As everyone knew; I worked hard at keeping a straight face for my men. If they saw me falling apart, they'd worry and, in the process, they'd fuck up whatever it was they were doing. Their jobs were all about concentration and being focused. That was why I forbid sweets, entertaining electronics and women when they were on duty. Because nothing screwed you up more than sugar, entertainment sets or the enter workings of the female brain. I would know. One was fucking me up right now.

"I'm fine." Was my curt, not so reassuring reply.

Tank ignored me and pulled up a chair. That was one thing I both hated and admired about him. He was one of the many few who could see right past my bullshit. But I wasn't in the mood for his lecturing today. And yes, I was sure he was going to lecture me or give me advice. Give a muscular, two hundred pound man a few kittens and he thought he was Dr. Phil.

"Is this about Stephanie? She's okay right? Aside from the amnesia thing?"

"She's _fine_, Tank. This has nothing to do with her."

"You didn't scare her away, did you?"

I sent him a look that should have told him to go bug someone else but it didn't faze him. "Why would I scare her away?"

"You wouldn't _try_ to, of course." He shrugged. "You just...don't make the best first impressions. You see, the way I see it-"

"Don't you have something you need to do?"

"You're touchy. Which means that you're stressed. Which means that my assumption was correct and that Stephanie is bothering you but you're either too embarrassed or angry to admit it." He raised his eyebrows suggestively.

Oh how I hated him. The worst part was that he was _right_. We both knew I'd never admit that though. I'd also never admit that, at times, I was jealous of Tank. He was able to pull girls. Hell, he had a fucking girlfriend right now. Albeit, dating Lula wasn't the most appealing thing but at least he had someone. So I said the first thing that came to mind, "Leave me alone or I'll shoot you."

"Ah. The physical threats. That's step one."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

Tank grinned. "There's a method about you're reactions. If I didn't hang around you so much, I probably wouldn't have noticed. You go from depression to anger to indifference to more anger mixed with sadness and then back to depression."

I stared at him for a beat. "I don't get depressed."

"Oh really? So, why were you sighing and moping around?"

"Whatever." Such an uncharacteristic thing for me to say. I never said _whatever_. _Whatever_ was for teenage girls. Where did that come from?

I saw the glint in Tank's eye as he stood up. "See? Indifference. The cycle's going to repeat if you don't-"

"Get out!"

He held up his hands in silent surrender and walked away. I heard his loud whisper while he exited, "More anger."

I waited for him to leave before I laid my head in my arms and blew out a long sigh. That was how I vented. I stored up until I couldn't hold it in anymore and then let it out in one gust. Not the healthiest thing to do but it worked for me. At times, I let it out in little segments; a clench of the fist there, a tightening of my grip. Small things that no one could notice or comment about. And that was how I preferred it. Because emotions in my life were obsolete.

Or at least, they_ had_ been. Before Stephanie Plum waltz right in and fucked up everything. I let out another sigh.

Sadness. I was mixing my anger with sadness. Fuck, he was right. Tank was calling it before it even happened. Son of a bitch.

I lifted my head and narrowed my eyes slightly. I called the giant man back into my cubicle and gave him a month's duration of paperwork and a few security jobs that'll keep him up for the rest of the day. He took it all with a professional, silent attitude and walked out without a word of protest.

I sat back in my chair and smirked. It was harsh and I'd probably feel guilty in a day or so but at the moment, I was feeling pretty damn good.

Depression, my ass.

**********

_Stephanie_

Relief flooded over me as we pulled into the lot. No stripper joints, 'hos or pimps in sight. Thank God. There was just a small building advertising...my eyes widened at the name on the side of the building.

"Please don't tell me Vincent stands for Vinnie and that he's my cousin."

Lula only snorted and I knew I was doomed. Vinnie was one branch of the family tree I'd rather snap off. He was a sexual deviant, a man with no backbone and possibly the _worst_ person to work for.

"I work for Vinnie?"

"_We_ work for Vinnie."

Oh Joy. I followed her into the building with a defeated look. Nothing good could come out of this. The area we stepped in to was stuffy, hot and furnished with one couch towards the side and a desk that blocked the entrance to another door. I was guessing the door led to my cousin.

A slightly over weight woman was sitting behind the desk. She had black hair, olive skin and was knee deep in paperwork it looked like. She looked strangely familiar but I couldn't put my finger on it. The woman looked up and smiled.

"Oh hey, look who it is." Her eyes locked onto me. "How ya feeling?" Before I could answer, she continued. "I know you probably don't know me right now but I'm Connie Rosolli."

That name sounded so....I snapped my fingers. "I went to school with your sister! Tina!" She nodded and I felt a bit good about recalling that little bit of information. Although that really didn't add up to all the other things I drew a blank on.

"Yeah well, now that everyone's acquainted again, let's get to it." Lula stated. "Connie, we need a skip."

Her eyes widened. "Wait...you're going after a skip now? So soon? She just got out of the hospital."

"She's fine. Aint you fine? Besides, she needs moolah quick. Her cabinets and fridge are empty."

I narrowed my eyes. "Did you have to say that out loud?"

"Don't be embarrassed. Connie knows you're broke."

I exaggerated a long eye roll and did some mental knuckle cracking. Note to self: Lula is very straightforward. The door behind Connie suddenly opened and out poked my scum of a cousin Vinnie. He trailed his eyes around the room and landed on me.

"There you are. Where have you been?"

"In the hospital."

"Oh jeez, what'd you do this time?" He didn't give me a chance to reply. "I don't care. Just get back to work. God, I don't know why I put up with you..." He continued to mutter to himself while he crossed and locked his door. No sympathy, no concern, no nothing. He probably didn't even know I had amnesia. Little bitch.

I didn't know I was clenching my fists until I felt pain in my palm. I relaxed them and let out a small sigh.

"Don't worry." Lula said again. "He's always in a pissy mood. We'll just TP his house for payback."

Good enough. I didn't feel like wasting extra energy on him right now anyway. Connie dug through her desk, retrieved a manila folder and held it out to us. "Easiest FTA out there at the moment. It'll be the best warm up for you since....well, since you forgot how to do the job."

I took it, opened it and skimmed through. There was a picture of an old man, a scary looking old man, with his two front teeth missing. The file said his name was Robert Olikski and he had been arrested for theft. I blinked. "What do we do with this?"

"It's your job to bring him back." Connie stated.

"You see," Lula started, hefting up her purse. "This is what happens: Someone gets arrested, Vinnie bonds them out and whoever doesn't show up for their court date becomes a FTA. It's our job to drag their ass back and get them rebonded."

"Even though Lula is really suppose to be_ filing_." Connie frowned.

Lula held her chin up. "I gotta be with Stephanie now. She'll need my help."

Connie shook her head and ducked back into her work.

I stood stoic for a moment while I took the information in. When it finally sunk in, I hung my head shamelessly. What kind of dead beat job was this? It sounded like a default career. Like nobody else would do it so we were stuck with it. What the hell were we even called? It was like being a repo man but instead of taking a car, we took the person. I would never take this job on willingly. There's no way I was going to go after criminals. This was insane.

My mind traveled back to my empty cabinets and my stomach growled restlessly. _Of course_. I probably hadn't taken the job because I wanted to. I had probably taken it because I _needed_ to. Classic Stephanie. I turned wearily towards Lula. "Let's get this over with."

How hard could it be to coax an old man anyway?

**********

Where was the doughnut God when you needed him?

At the moment, Robert Olikski was crushing my rib cage while he tried to scamper away. I had my hands around his ankle but he was shoving and kicking and cursing. Who would have thought that such an old man would put up a fight while using such colorful language? As soon as we arrived at his house, he had taken one look at us and bolted. I had stood frozen for a second. I wasn't use to chasing down people. I was too out of shape.

Then Lula told me to get him and we went on a wild chase around his house. Up the stairs, in a room, in the basement, in the kitchen. I finally caught up to him while he was trying to squeeze out of a window. I grabbed him by his leg, pulled and we both went falling onto the floor in a heap

"Get him! Torch his ass! Kick his ass! Do _something_ to his ass!" I screamed at Lula. She was running over to me, fumbling in her purse. She accidentally tripped, stumbled forward and landed right on top of me. All the air in my lungs rushed out and I clawed at her to get her off of me. _Air! Air! I needed air!_

The pressure finally let up and I breathed in deep. Stars danced at the corners of my eyes and Lula peered down at me. "You okay?"

_No, I'm not okay. You punctured a lung!_ I would have said this but I wasn't in a position to yell. My lungs were on fire and my back ached. "You sat on me." I squeaked out.

"Sorry."

I looked up right in time to see old man Olikski. He had a fire extinguisher in his hands and was aiming it at us. "You won't take me alive!" He screamed, spraying us with the foam. Then he dropped it, went on shrieking, lit a match and threw it on the stove before running out hysterically. I wiped my face, panicked at the sight of the fire and was frozen with fear again.

Luckily Lula grabbed me, hauled me to my feet and dragged my ass out of there. I could smell the fire burning in the kitchen and felt my head get heavy all of sudden.

_BOOM_.

I glanced back to see the house engulfed in flames. The last thing I remember were flames licking at the air before everything went black.

*********

_Morelli_

Christ. This had Stephanie written all over it. I knew as soon as I got the call of a fire and possible homicide.

I pulled up to the curb of the now charred house and sought her out immediately. And even though I suspected she was behind it, I still grimaced when I saw that she was sitting off to the side with Lula. Her face was pale and she was speaking to a police officer while the firefighters began to pack up and head off. I shook my head and raced right over.

"....he set his _own_ house on fire?" Was what the officer was asking incredulously when I got to her. Before she could reply, I clapped a hand on his shoulder and dismissed him. He looked angry for a beat before simply walking away. I guessed that he wasn't that pissed. He probably was wondering why I'd want to put up with these_ lovely_ ladies.

I glanced at Lula first. She only smiled sheepishly so I diverted my attention to Stephanie. She was staring straight forward and not blinking.

"She passed out." Lula spoke up.

I shook my head again and waved my fingers before her eyes. Nothing. I poked her on the forehead. Nothing. Hm. This had really hit her hard. If only she knew just how normal and uneventful this _really_ was for her. But I could sympathize. If I lost all my memories and went back to work for the Trenton cops, I would have broken down the first minute of the job. The sad part was that I'd rather have my crappy job than _her_ crappy jobs.

"I'll take her home. You can go." I instructed to Lula. She took off without another word. Lula and I weren't exactly close but I knew how much she hated the cops. Of course, that never stopped her from staring at my ass whenever I was around her.

I sided up to Stephanie and stared at her. She was still immobile, quiet and unresponsive so I did what any professional police officer would do at this point to shake her from the daze.

I kissed her. One of those hand groping-moaning- with a lot of tongue kisses. It felt _good_. I hadn't kissed her for more than a week and man, did I miss those lips. When I broke apart from her, she was staring at me with wide eyes and I could see the blush across her cheeks.

I still had it.

"What the hell was that!?"

"I had to do something. You weren't moving."

She narrowed her eyes but said nothing more. I tried to hide my smile but it bloomed through. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm a cop remember?" I smiled and twirled a strand of her hair around my finger."You liked it."

"Liked what?" She jerked her head away and her hair slid out of my touch.

"The kiss."

"I did not."

"Why deny?"

"Oh yes Morelli, you're so handsome and cute and lovable. I just want to jump in your car and have you take me! Oh!"

I was pretty sure she was being sarcastic but you couldn't blame a guy for hoping. "Really?"

"Go eat dirt."

Ah, same Stephanie. I smiled at her. "You don't mean that. And you better be real nice to me because I'm the only ride you got."

Her eyes stayed on me for only a second before she started to glance around frantically. "Where'd Lula go!?"

"She had prior engagements."

I saw her eye twitch. "You're lying."

A shrug was what she got from me. "She hates the cops so she took off. You'd feel better if I took you home anyway. I can comfort you."

"What makes you think I need comforting?"

"Cupcake, you're whiter than a ghost."

She glanced away and I slapped my forehead. Sensitive. I needed to be sensitive. Wasn't that what girls liked? Wasn't that want Stephanie liked? I grabbed her gently by her shoulders and led her towards my car. "Just trust me okay? I know how you feel. I don't think you should be going out and trying so quick to get back into the saddle. And by saddle; I mean your job but if you are, be careful next time."

What I really felt like saying was: Stop being so God damn stubborn, knock your head against a wall to get your memory back, quit your job and come live with me.

But I was now sensitive Joe so I couldn't say that. I sighed and opened my car door for her.

She wasn't resisting or arguing and I took that as a good sign. Maybe I was rubbing off on her again. Slowly. I mentally cheered in my head. I wasn't going to rush things. I was going to keep my distance like she asked and wait for her to come to me. Because she would. Either before she got her memory back or after.

I just had to be patient. And there wasn't a limit to how long I'd wait for Stephanie Plum.

*********

_Stephanie_

I'm pathetic.

For one, I couldn't catch an old man.

Two, I totally broke down over it. It wasn't even that big of a deal. It wasn't like people didn't burn their houses. Then again, they never tried to torch me with it.

And three, I was falling for Morelli again. Just like high school. I had lied. The kiss had been _sensational_. He still knew how to make my toes curl.

I closed my eyes and berated myself. How _stupid_ could I get? I should have learned my lesson. Joe Morelli was no good for me. So what, if he was a cop? He was still too cocky and smiley and....damn it, so _good looking_.

Oh great! I covered my face with my hands. First _Ranger_ and now this. I was hopeless.

And I wasn't hopeless because I was attracted to both of them. No, I figured any girl who could see would be attracted to them. But I was hopeless because I was getting deeper than attraction and I didn't even _know_ them! Yeah so I grew up in the same neighborhood and went to the same school with Morelli but other than our random, illicit interaction, we never spoke. And okay, I guess I knew a maximum of five things about Carlos but there were at least a billion more things I needed and wanted to know.

Men. Ugh. Maybe I should just try being a lesbian.

I glanced at Morelli as he drove and noted how very different he looked than Ranger. How he used both hands when he drove, how he sat forward, the tension of his bones. It was bad to like two men you barely knew but it was worst to realize that they were completely different from each other. What did that mean?

I was a slut who'd fall for anything?

"How do you know Ranger?"

Wrong question it seemed because Morelli's body tensed up even more and he cut almost angry eyes at me. "What?"

"Carlos? That Ranger guy. He said he knew you. How do you two know each other?"

He was silent for a bit. "We've dealt in the same circles before."

What the_ HELL_ did that mean? I furrowed my eyebrows. "So..what..you're...friends?"

"_No_." Wow. Such hostility for a simple question.

"So what are you two to each other then?"

"Nothing."

"It might be my imagination but I'm guessing you don't like him."

He scoffed and looked towards the road. "Understatement of the century."

My curiosity was peaking. "What's the deal? Did he steal your girl or something?"

Morelli gave me a hard look and I gulped. He glared at me for a long minute before saying, "Ranger's a dangerous guy. He's mentally unstable, plays the mysterious game and he kills people."

My eyes widened in surprise. Not only did Morelli sound angry but he sounded disgusted. I was quite sure that Ranger hadn't reacted this way when I questioned him about Joe. Just one of their many differences I suppose. Morelli was a whirlwind of emotions while Ranger was a closed book. "Don't you think you're over exaggerating? He kills people? Yeah right." Even as I said this sarcastically, a small part of me thought that the dark, Cuban man killing someone wasn't _that_ absurd.

Before Joe could respond, my cell phone rang. My mom. "Stephanie! You were suppose to come over this morning. Are you okay? Are you hurt? Do you feel better? Where are you?" My mom could spit out a thousand sentences in under a second.

I glanced at Morelli. "Uh…I'm fine and....I'm heading to Vinnie's right now."

"Oh Stephanie! You're back working for him so soon!?" I could hear bottles clinking in the background. My mom was at her liquor cabinet.

I rolled my eyes. "Don't worry, I'm _fine_ and the job is awesome." _It's the worst job I've ever had and I just started but I had to assure my mom so she wouldn't worry as much._ "I'll be around for dinner." Then I hung up.

Morelli was grinning at me.

"What?!" I asked angrily.

"Your job is_ awesome_?"

"Don't start."

**********

Morelli dropped me off at the Bonds office without a word of protest. He was confusing me greatly. One moment, he'd kiss me and the next; he'd wave and act like nothing happened. Wait, wasn't that what I wanted? I shoved the annoying cop to the back of my mind and stomped into the building with fists balled.

"You left me!" I screamed at Lula as soon as I saw her. She was sitting on the couch with a sub.

"Sorry. The cops give me the heebies jeebies." She offered me a sub. "I bought you this."

My anger slipped away and I took the meatball sub. Ah, she was forgiven.

"Was that Morelli who drove off?" Connie asked.

I nodded and took a huge bite. "The little jerk showed up and I had to let him drive me home. I don't know why he bothers. I hate him."

Connie and Lula exchanged looks. "Should we tell her?"

I looked up at them. "Tell me what?"

"I say we keep it a secret. We'll let her figure it out."

"Figure out what!?" No one answered me and I huffed.

"Anyway," Connie waved it off. "How'd the FTA go?"

"Horrible!" I exclaimed through the meat in my mouth. "I don't see how I lasted a day doing this! An old man almost set me on fire and he stabbed me in my eye! Then the house exploded!"

They exchanged knowing looks again and I didn't like it. I hated being the odd ball out. "You'll get used to it."They muttered in unison.

There we go with that again. I didn't_ want_ to get used it damn it. If this was going to be my job then I wanted to get _better _at. I told them this and they blinked.

"But you was never good at it in the first place." Lula laughed.

_Figures_.

My eye started to twitch but I put a hand up to stop it. "Okay maybe I wasn't but I'm sure I was better then this, right?" They avoided eye contact and I gaped. Jeez, had I been _that _bad? "So, is there anyone, _anyone_ _at all,_ who could train me for this stuff? Like...show me the ropes?"

"I thought I was gonna show you the ropes."

"You left me and you're not that good at it either."

"Hmph." Was all Lula said.

"So...is there? Someone who can help me get better?"

For the third time, the women exchanged looks but this time they were grinning wickedly. Uh oh.

Connie picked up the phone on the desk and said, "Well, there's one person we have in mind."

************

Twenty minutes later, Ranger came walking into the Bonds office. He was in a black T-shirt that outlined his muscles stupendously and dark cargo pants stuffed into boots. He had that same cap over his head from the last time I'd saw him and a ghost of a smile on his lips while he folded his arms across his chest and came to a stop before me.

_Great_.

"_Him_!?" I whispered harshly to Connie and Lula. "Him!? Why him!?"

"He's the best." Connie whispered back with a shrug. I wondered if he was the best because he killed people but waved that thought off. I couldn't believe Morelli's word solely. No need to jump to conclusions and look like an idiot. "Besides, he use to help you out before."

_Figures_. He dressed in SWAT clothes, had muscles made of granite and moved stealthily. Why wouldn't he be good at chasing down criminals? He was Rambo for Pete's sake.

"And he's hot." Lula added in, fanning herself. Her eyes were locked on the man and I swear she looked like she might melt. I wanted to agree with her but he was staring at us and I think he could hear us as well because his mouth was twitching. "Wait, how do you know him already? I thought you had amnesia."

"We already met." I said stonily, narrowing my eyes.

"You didn't do the nasty with him, did you?"

"NO!"

"Too bad. I would have."

"I never said I _wouldn't_ have...I just-" I stopped mid sentence, caught myself and raked my knuckles across my forehead. I was sure my face was burning. I turned to face Ranger full on and walked up to him. He just stared. "So," I started, trying to sound casual. "You work for Vinnie."

"I use to."

"Where do you work now?"

"I own a security company."

What an offhand and short reply. A security company? That could stretch to all kinds of regions.

I turned around and saw that the women were giving me thumbs up. What kind of confidence boost was that going to give me? Why did I need a boost of confidence anyway!? It wasn't like I was asking him to lend me a million dollars in cash. I just wanted a bit of assistance.

"Connie tells me you need help."

I spun back around to nod at him. "Yeah...just a little. I'm not too good at this...bounty hunter stuff."

"What a surprise."

I eyed him angrily. Did I sense a hint of sarcasm? Was he making fun of me?! "Are you going to help me or not?" I sounded a bit too mad and impatience but he seemed to bring that out in me.

He stared, raised his shoulders in shrug and said, "Sure." Then he gave me a wide smile that nearly buckled my knees.

"What? What's with the smile?"

"Eliza Doolittle and Henry Higgins Does Trenton." Was his amused reply. He took his cap off and laid it on my head. "All over again."

* * *

I promised and I delivered. A longer chapter, yay. Hope you enjoyed. Tell me what you think. Love ya.


	7. Chapter Six

* * *

**_Chapter Six  
_**

* * *

_Stephanie_

"So, how was your day?"

Well mom, if you must know, I'll tell you. I woke up to a very blunt, large, black women rummaging through my fridge, learned out I was some sort of 'comic book' bounty hunter, went after an old man, he tried to set me on fire, broke down in front of Morelli and now I'm getting bounty hunter tips from Ranger who told me he'd keep in touch and to call him whenever I needed him. Apparently, I have his phone number in my cell.

And my cabinets are still empty so I'm mooching off of you even though you drive me _crazy_. How's that!?

Of course, I didn't say any of this out loud.

"It was fine." I told her_,_ keeping my head down. That was one thing I learned from my father because, at the moment, he was shoving food in his much as quickly as possible. It had been same old when I came home. My mom greeted me, asked me how I was, My Grandma Mazur made crazy, inane comments and my father kept his eyes glued to the T.V set. Why, if I hadn't have woken up in a hospital yesterday, I wouldn't have believed, from their indifferent reactions, that I had gone into a coma.

"Really? Are you getting the hang of everything?" I saw her glanced at the cabinet where she stored her liquor. I understood her worry. My job was a disaster. She must have been wringing her hands every day.

"Yeah, it's a blast."

But my mom wasn't letting up. "If you want, you can stay with me. The doctor said that your amnesia should wear off in a few weeks. You can stay with me until then."

_Why don't you just run me over a few thousand times?_ "No, mom, I'm fine. I swear. It doesn't even feel like I have amnesia. I'm comfortable." _Yeah right_. "Besides, I'm sure the doctor would want me to be in familiar settings to trigger my memory quicker, right? This is a good thing." Damn, that was a good point. I almost never made good points!

My mother nodded in silent surrender.

"Well, you still gonna be bringing men over here right?" Grandma Mazur asked. "I like men."

I did too. Maybe a bit too much. "Did I use to bring men over here?"

"All the time! Why you even had a boy-"My Grandma was cut off by my mother's not to inconspicuous kick under the table.

"Wait! What were you about to say!? I what!?"

"Nothing."

"You're lying."

"Stephanie, it's not our place to tell. If Joe wants you to know that you two were dating then let _him_ tell you." My mom froze, realized her mistake, covered her mouth and muttered, "Oops."

My eyes widened to the size of bowling balls and I gaped at my mom with a look of disbelief.

"Oh phooey." Grandma Mazur pouted. "I wanted to tell her."

I felt stars dance in my eyes and I closed them, breathed in and then exhaled out loudly. It all made sense now. How comfortable he acted around me, waking up to see him first, what Lula and Connie hinted at. _Man oh man_. When I reopened them, my father had left the table and my mom was smiling at me sheepishly while my Grandma Mazur was cutting into the dessert cake.

"Are you okay sweetie? I didn't want to tell you because well...'cause you didn't really know him now and because I thought it'd be best if he did."

I stared at her for a beat, turned and grabbed the cake platter from my Grandma. When she started to protest, I sent her a glare and she hushed. Then I stood up, with the cake in my heads and rushed out.

I needed it more than she did.

********

Let me tell you something: eating a whole cake and going to bed? Not such a good idea. Not only because my stomach was bubbling but because my body was on a sugar rush and my eyes were playing tricks on me and showing me a figure standing at the bottom of me bed. I rubbed at them, berated them mentally and then squinted into the dark.

The figure was still there.

Terror hit me hard but when I opened my mouth to scream, nothing came out. I grabbed my pillow and chucked it at the silhouette. Oh yes, the fluffy pillow of death. Fear it!

"I know kung fu!" I screamed desperately. I know, I know. What an amateur mistake. If I knew Kung Fu then I wouldn't be baring my other pillow as a weapon. The light suddenly flickered on and I blinked at the tall frame of Ranger. His lips were twitching. Was he laughing at me!?

"What the hell are you doing here!?"

"Training you." He replied calmly. Then he reached behind him and threw something at me. It landed on the covers and I eyed it warily. A bottle of water.

"What's that for? And how'd you get in here?! You do know that I can call the police, right? This is breaking and entering."

His head tilted to the side a bit and his eyes narrowed slightly. He looked annoyed. "You asked me to turn you into a kick ass bounty hunter, right? That's what I'm doing. Get up. We're going jogging."

I turned towards the clock. "It's four o'clock in the morning!"

"I know. We're late."

"You're insane."

His lips spread in a slow, almost wicked smile. "Babe, it was your idea."

"NO! I asked you to show me a few things _not_ to break in my house at four in the fucking morning and drag me out to go running." I huffed, curling back in my covers. "Get out before I call the cops."

"Who're you going to call? Morelli?" I heard rustling and looked up to see that he was holding out his cell phone. "By all means; do so."

I narrowed my eyes at him and a sudden thought came to my mind. "Morelli said you killed people." I randomly blurted out.

I still wasn't a hundred percent positive of that statement. I mean, yes, he had somehow gotten into my house but Lula had too. Everyone seemed to have some sort of pathway into my apartment. Besides, I wasn't in any position to listen to Joe Morelli. He hadn't told me about our...previous 'relationship'. I nearly groaned thinking about it. What had possessed me to get involved with him _again_? Probably his eyes. Damn those murky, brown eyes.

Ranger looked slightly taken aback by the statement but recovered quickly by shrugging. "Do you believe him?"

"You haven't given me a reason not to, have you? You appear out of thin air, always dress in black and say virtually nothing about yourself. Why should I even trust you when you say we use to be friends?"

He suddenly took a step forward. Not a threatening one, just a small one that shortened the gap between us and made my cheeks inflame from the idea of having on nothing but a tank top and panties under the covers while he was fully dressed.

"You're mother is named Ellen. You love birthday cake. You often have a hard time buttoning the top of your jeans. Your birthday is October eleventh. You were married to Dickie Orr for a short period of time. You're extremely stubborn, don't especially enjoy kids, you have a sister and you don't think I'm a bad guy. You're just concerned about my ethics." He raised his eyebrows slightly. "Am I right?"

He _was_ right and that was the _frustrating_ part. Damn it. I stuck out my tongue. Very mature, I know. "Well...I _do_ think you're a bad guy." Lame comeback, I know. But I needed a rise out of him to feel victorious!

But, o_f course_, he only shot me that almost-smile and said, "Either get up and get dressed or you're going in your pajamas."

"Yo-You can't keep bossing me around, ya know!" I stuttered out. "I'm an independent woman."

One of his eyebrows rose in question and he stared for a beat. "What does that have to do with anything?

What the HELL_ did_ that have to do with anything? Nothing at all. But it wasn't my fault. I was tongue tied. This guy could make me sound like an idea with just his eyes. Okay fine, maybe I was _partially_ to blame for sounding like an idiot. I _did_ have control over my mouth. At times.

"Just get out so I can get dressed." I sighed tiredly. He smiled slightly and then walked out without a word.

In a way, I had brought this on myself. It was like hiring your own personal trainer, I suppose. I just had the unfortunate luck of getting one who thought four am was late, sent my hormones on a rage while both terrifying and intriguing me. Oh God, I could only imagine what he'd think of me when we actually _started_ running.

I was in no shape for jogging. I ate cake for my exercise.

*********

_Ranger_

I was starting to think that jogging wasn't the best course of action for the first step in '_Get Stephanie to Fall for Me while Getting her Fit_' plan.

I was having doubts because, four minutes into the jog, she passed out. At the moment I was staring down at her while she fidgeted on the ground, trying to hold back a sigh. I should have expected this. She was horrible when it came to any form of exercise. It occurred to me that no matter how hard I tried to hide my true colors, they show through in all their glory. I dragged her out here, not only to help her accomplish her mission of becoming a better bounty hunter, but because I wanted to spend time with her.

Yet all I managed to do was make the woman faint. And_ not_ in the good way. I wasn't skilled at being a softy. I wasn't familiar with showing my emotions. That was going to be my downfall. Either she was going to push me away or die. So, how in the hell was I suppose to show her how much I cared without completely dropping my professional, stoic side?

Maybe if I refrained from barging in her home? I couldn't help it. It felt too regular to stop. What did she expect me to do? Use the door?

I could cool my tough guy act. Then again, she might not want that. Stephanie was usually attracted to my tough guy act. Or so I thought. There was no way I'd turn into a little bitch though. That sure as hell didn't suit me.

Stop dressing in black? _Nah_.

Oh Hell, I was stressing over it again. Wrinkles were going to begin appearing on my head. I was going to start losing my hair. I was going to get a stomach ulcer. I should have never quit yoga.

"Ugh." Stephanie opened her eyes and rubbed at her head. She moaned again and sat up on her elbows, glancing around. "Where am I?"

"You passed out in the park."

Her eyes turned to me and I saw something flicker in them. Something familiar. And for a second, I let the hope of her having gotten her memory back enter my mind.

But then she narrowed her eyes and said, "Maybe if we would have started _later_ then I wouldn't have!" She grumbled angrily while she got to her feet, swatting at my hand when I tried to help. "Four am...ridiculous....late.....insane....jogging....cars...men in black...cop idiots....want sugar..." She turned to poke me in the chest. "I demand doughnuts!"

I twitched my mouth and tried to keep the amusement from my voice. "You really shouldn't eat junk food before you jog. Defeats the purpose."

"It doesn't matter because we're DONE jogging! I've jogged enough. I've jogged enough to last me for a good ten years. I probably lost twenty pounds from this jog."

"Babe, you barely went _twenty_ steps."

Her face got bright red and she puffed out her cheeks. I struggled to keep a smile from my face but it broke through. I couldn't help it. She looked cute when she was angry. "I SEE that smile!" I wiped it off and followed after her while she stomped over to a bench, muttering angrily to herself. "My life sucks. I got amnesia, I suck at my job, I figure out I use to...or, in a sense, am _dating_ Morelli and now my mentor is a exercise freak that makes me look bad because _he_ has the body of a sex god."

I slouched down beside her and turned to say, "You think I have the body of a sex god?"

The expression on her face told me right away that she hadn't meant to say it aloud. She turned away and mumbled nervously, "I didn't say that."

Smiling, I sided up closer to her and wrapped my arm around her shoulders. I could see the blush darkening her cheeks and smiled mischievously. Then, something hit me and my smile dropped. "Morelli told you?"

Stephanie blinked up at me in confusion. "Told me wha-Oh, no. My mom told me..." Her eyes narrowed as she trailed off. "Wait a minute, you knew?"

"Everyone did."

"But me!" She groaned and hung her head in what could only be called dread. Damn it, she looked cute when she was upset too. Not only that but she was upset about being involved with Morelli. Great news to my ears.

"So," I started, leaning over to whisper in her ear. "What was that about my sex god body again?"

I saw her stiffen, blush deeper and she laughed nervously. "Oh Jeez, we need to start jogging again right?!" Then she bolted from beside me and raced down the path. I watched her go with a smirk.

I was getting to her.

*********

_Stephanie_

Ranger was getting to me.

He was too aware of his good looks. It was making me nervous and embarrassed and erratic. I needed to stop mumbling to myself in his presence. I don't know how I had managed to avoid him in my pre-amnesia life and end up with _Morelli_. UGH. I still couldn't believe that one. Maybe I was over exaggerating but I still considered Morelli scum. Cute scum but scum nonetheless for omitting details. But it wasn't like I considered Ranger any better. He was scary. _Sexy_, scary albeit but that was the worst kind. That type of scary lured you in and spit you back out cruelly.

My pre-amnesia boyfriend Joe Morelli was scum and my mentor Carlos_ whatever-his-last-name-was_ was scary.

I glanced up to stare at Ranger while he jogged ahead of me. I wasn't even going at a pace that could be considered a jog. My lungs were on fire, my heels hurt, my stomach ached and I felt a cramp coming on. I _really_ needed a doughnut.

While I was in pain, Ranger looked completely fine. He hadn't broken a sweat, his breathing wasn't labored, his pace remained the same and he looked perfectly in ease. Son of a bitch.

I swerved off to the side and sat down on the ground. I pulled out the water and downed it all in one gulp. Not bad. I would have traded it for a beer any day but not bad. He made two more laps around and then came to stare down at me.

"Taking a break so soon?"

"Shove it."

He sat down next to me and leaned his head towards me. I could see his smile. He was amused. "You're being very uncooperative, Babe."

Damn it, he needed to stop calling me that. Not because I didn't like it but because I liked it _way_ too much. "You're lucky I came out here in the first place. I'm not like you. I don't do this every morning."

Ranger's eyes traveled out to stare around the park. "Tell you what," He started, a smirk coming to his lips. "If you do three more laps then we can call it a day."

I thought about it. It sounded good in retrospect but three laps were A LOT. I would know. I didn't even finish my second one. Oh no, if I did three laps, I wanted more from it. "If I do three more laps then we'll call it a day AND I get to ask all the questions I want AND you _have_ to answer them....AND uh...you have to help me get old man Olikski and buy me a dozen doughnuts."

He cut his eyes to me. "I would have done those things without bribes."

"Oh really? Fine then what-"

"Do your laps." He laid back on the ground and put his hands behind his head. I smiled, got up and started to jog. Hah, now I could ask him everything I wanted to know. Like, for instance, if he was human. I had better ones than that, trust me, but that one was on the top of the list.

Halfway through my first lap, I wasn't as jubilant. I felt like I was going to throw up, faint, die, come back alive and repeat the cycle. I glanced over to where Ranger lay, clenched my teeth angrily at how lazy and gorgeous he looked in the sun and wanted to bash his face in.

I should have said he'd have to become my sex slave for a week. Yeah, running three laps would have been worth_ that_.

* * *

That's all for now, folks. Hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Coupons and Candy until next time.


	8. Chapter Seven

* * *

**_Chapter Seven_**

* * *

_Ranger_

"Take drugs?"

"No."

"Smoke?"

"No."

"Live up to your morals, huh?"

"You can say that."

"Work out?"

"Everyday."

"Is that all you do to stay fit?"

"I don't eat anything harmful to my temple."

"Your temple?"

"My body."

I saw her process that while she narrowed her eyes at me. For Stephanie, someone who didn't eat doughnuts was either the devil or not human.

"Are you human?" See what I mean?

"I'd like to think so."

"You have a lot of spiffy cars."

I didn't respond.

"Drug _dealer_?"

"I told you already that I have a security company."

"Well that could expand to anything. You could be providing body guard service for terrorist for all I know."

I gave her a look and focused back on the road.

"You don't do anything illegal, do you?"

"I don't get _caught_ doing it."

I saw the flicker of fear pass over her face and I blew out an inaudible sigh. Great. Now she probably thinks I'm even more dangerous. Big props to me. There was a period of silence where I drove and she stayed still beside me. I was taking her to Rangeman to further her training. It took a good hour or so but she had completed all three laps and was now taking our offer into full effect. From the moment she passed out after the laps, she had bombarded me with all kinds of random questions. Then she ordered me to get her doughnuts, whined that she didn't have a drink, went back to her apartment to change and told me that I wouldn't get rid of her until Ulikski was captured.

And so, we were traveling to Rangeman to 'suit up'. Mostly, I was going back to switch cars because I knew enough about Stephanie to suspect the worst and my Porsche was NOT going to be on the chopping block today.

"Can I touch your hair?"

I gave her a side ways glance and furrowed my eyebrows in disbelief. "What?"

"It's looks real silky and smooth." She didn't wait for my answer, reached out and started to stroke my head. "Ohhh, it's soft."

My eyes traveled down to her chest where her shirt was doing a very poor job at hiding her cleavage. I was aware of her hands in my hair and my eyes started to blur.

"Ranger, look out!"

I snapped out of the daze, turned, swerved swiftly back onto the right lane and suffered a line of honks and curses from other drivers. I clenched the wheel; thought about shooting them all but let it go. Damn it, I never lost concentration. Damn shirt, hand, her, fuck....

"Jeez, you almost killed us!" She was breathing heavily, frozen stiff and her eyes were wide. She hadn't taken her hand from my hair.

"Stoptouchingme." I strained out.

Stephanie turned to stare at me. "What was that?"

"Your hand. Stop touching me."

She instantly retracted it, slumped back into the seat and I saw the blush rise in her cheeks. I turned towards the window to hide the sigh I blew out and shook my head.

"_Sor-ray_. I just won't touch you anymore."

_GREAT_. That's probably the very least thing I wanted at the moment. I turned to tell her this but all that came out was, "It was your fault we almost crashed."

She gave me a look of horror and incredulous. "WHAT!? You weren't even looking at the _road_!" So she saw me staring. It just got better and_ better_.

I clenched my teeth and sent her a stare that could have counted as a glare. Now we were arguing and I had a distinct feeling I had started it. FUCK. I wasn't even angry at her. I was angry at myself. At my own lack of control.

If she touched me again, I worried that I'd jump on her, let the car travel off a bridge and kills us both.

It'd be worth it.

**********

_Stephanie_

Ranger was a complex guy.

Wait no, that wasn't the right word. Ranger was a..._difficult _guy. He was confusing me. Sending me mixed signals. First, he'd flirt and then he got all heated at me for touching him. How was I supposed to work with a man like that?

_Oh God, I was trying to work with this man?_ Obviously. Something about him was just.....captivating and I was frustrated because I don't know _what_ it is.

He wasn't really that bad of a guy. Yes, a little withdrawn, a bit aggressive at weird intervals, a kind of sick sense of humor but all in all, he was just a _man_. Or so he claimed. I was beginning to believe him on that. Until he proved otherwise, that it. I was starting to trust him a lot more, actually. It was freaky.

We arrived at his security company place in silence. I had opted to quit the interrogation until I got over my anger at him for blaming me. When we rolled into the lot, I blinked. According to Ranger, his building was named_ RangeMan_. Not exactly creative. I was looking forward to walking into a building called 'Secret Spies of Trenton' but I suppose that would be a too obvious. Besides, he wasn't even a spy. He was the co-owner of a '_security company_' or so he said.

He stepped out first; I grabbed a doughnut from the close-to-empty box and followed after. We walked over to the elevator doors and were about to head in before something moved from beside us.

I glanced, saw a huge shadow, screamed and dropped my doughnut. Dinosaur! Oh my god, dinosaurs were BACK! I stumbled back, lost my balance and went toppling over.

A hand on my wrist interrupted my fall, twirled me back on my feet and I blinked up at an amused looking Ranger.

"Oh crap, sorry. I didn't mean to scare you so bad."

The dinosaur was talking! I gaped and watched as it stepped out of the shade and took form as a man. A huge, buff beyond compare, man who looked in contrast to his sweet smile.

"Steph. Hal." Ranger motioned.

I watched as he stuck out his hand. "Sorry for the startling you again and sorry on your amnesia. I feel real bad."

Cautiously, I shook his hand and muttered, "Thanks."

Then, a horde of more dinosaurs came pounding towards us, guns drawn. They took one look at us and sighed. "We heard screaming." One dinosaur said in explanation.

Ranger shook his head, said everything was okay, introduced me to each and then they all went shuffling back upstairs.

"What were those?" I asked dazedly, watching them disappear.

"My men."

"Are _they_ human?!"

"Very much so."

"They look like they eat granite."

"That's not even possible."

"For non humans, it is."

I saw Ranger give a small shake of his head and then he proceeded towards the elevator. I frowned and raced after him. I was annoying him. GOOD. Served him right. As the doors closed, I started up my questionnaire once more.

"How long have you lived in Trenton?"

Ranger made a face that told me he was irritated. I grinned. Hah, he thought I'd forgotten? No way.

**********

I felt silly.

No, I felt like a complete retard.

I turned to look wearily at Ranger who was in full black, as always and then glanced down at myself. He looked perfectly at ease and I looked uncomfortable. I had a gun in my purse and it was weighing me down with fear. I protested vigorously with him when he told me I'd have to carry a gun but, in the end, he won. So, after spending some time at the shooting range at RangeMan (might I add in that the place is huge and spacious and pretty damn cool), we head out to get Robert Olikski. I got a call from Lula and my mother but ignored them both. I had a job to do. I needed to be alert at all times.

Or, you know, I was with a smokin' hot guy and wouldn't let either of them interrupt my '_training_.' Whatever floated your boat.

"Do you have any brothers and sisters?"

Ranger glanced at me while we walked up the steps to Robert's house and he still looked annoyed. "Four sisters and a brother."

"So you don't like chocolate at all?"

He just stared, stepped onto the porch, knocked and then shook his head.

"Am I bugging you?"

"Not at all."

The door opened and there was Robert Olikski again. He poked his head out, stared at us in amazement and then tried to slam the door shut but Ranger stuck his foot in the way, threw it open and grabbed the old man by his neck. In less than two seconds, he had Olikski tied, deathly quiet and..._that was it_!?

"What the hell was that!?" I asked, double taking Ranger as he dragged Olikski to the Rangeman Truck.

"That was called being a bond enforcement agent."

"Ha ha." I raced after him, feeling like an idiot. Lula and I couldn't even out run an old man but_ Ranger_.....Oh yeah,_ Ranger_ made this look like child's play. Damn him. Only another thing he seemed to best me at. He threw Olikski in the bed of the Truck, mouthed something to him I couldn't catch and then we were off.

"I could have done that, you know." I blurted out a few minutes after we drove away.

I heard a weird noise. Like the noise of a stifled laugh and narrowed my eyes angrily. "Of course you could, babe."

"You know what!? Stop calling me that!"

"Someone's angry."

"You want to know why I'm angry!?" I was aware of how shrill my voice sounded but forged on. "I'm ANGRY because I've woken up to a NIGHTMARE! To a life I SUCK at! I mean, I wasn't doing that good before this but man oh man, if I can't catch an old man then what the hell do I do when I have to track down a NOT so old man!? And now I don't have anymore doughnuts to EAT!" I screamed, hit the dashboard of the truck and then folded my arms. It felt like the millionth time I'd ranted but all the same, it felt good. Ranting blew out some steam. And steam was what I had bottled in me at the moment.

Ranger didn't reply right away and I started to think that he was second guessing his choice of hanging around me. "You just have to get better at it."

Oh ho, words of encouragement? "What if I don't?"

He turned to glance at me and I saw a twinkle in his eye. "If you don't then you could always come work for _me_."

"For you? Where?"

"At Rangeman."

"Doing…?"

"Desk work." It sounded normal enough but there was something about his voice. He sounded sneaky….and he kept smiling slyly.

I considered the offer in silence. Working for Ranger? I wasn't so sure about that. Mostly because I didn't know what the hell he did exactly. Which one sounded more appealing? Being a useless bounty hunter or working for Ranger, Mr. Man of all things mysterious?

I'd sleep on it.

*********

_Morelli_

What the hell....

I back tracked on the way to my car, squinted my eyes and then learned forward to get a better look.

Son of a bitch. Stephanie was bringing in a FTA to the police station.

With _Ranger_.

I looked down at my shoes, calmed myself and then strolled over to the 'couple'. I could only guess what kind of things Ranger had planned to do with her. And none of them made me too happy. Honestly, she'd rather hang with HIM than ME? _I_ was the one she didn't trust? What was this? The twilight zone? Candid cameras? Punk'd? I swear, if Ashton Kutcher ran his ass out here.....

"Morelli?"

I glanced down and saw that I was in front of Stephanie. When had that happened? No matter..."What's up?" I asked _her_ this question but my eyes traveled to Ranger who was standing behind her, looking a little too smug for my taste.

"Nothing much. What are you doing here?"

I held back the urge to roll my eyes. "I'm a cop, remember?"

"Oh right."

I shifted my body to acknowledge Ranger. "Showing our Stephanie around?"

"Something like that."

Bastard. Sounding all cool and smooth. I clenched my teeth and tried not to let my anger show. "Helping her catch the badies?"

"Badies?" Stephanie spoke up, giving me a look mixed with amusement and confusion. "Is that what we called them? I thought they were FTA's...or skips."

I turned away to hide my smile. Innocent. She was always so damn innocent. Losing her memory hadn't helped that factor. "I was being sarcastic."

"Oh." Then her face changed suddenly and it morphed into anger. Her face got red, her fingers balled into fist and she glared at me. What the hell....why was the anger directed at me? "My mother told me _something_ yesterday." Was what she said next, through strained teeth.

I could only blink.

She glared.

Ranger raised an eyebrow.

She continued to glare.

I looked at him for help, got a slight shrug and then blinked again.

"Hello!?" She snapped her fingers.

"I have no idea what you're-"

"I'd love to stay and witness the rest of this intellectual conversation of epic proportions," Ranger cut in. "But I have to go." He turned to her. "Call me if you need anything."

"Oh I will. And don't think I've forgotten our deal. I have more questions."

He smiled at her and then turned on his heel to go. I found the exchange to be bother infuriating and nerve wracking but watched him leave with a victorious grin. HAH. _I_ was with Stephanie now and she was......I gaped at her. What the fuck....she was staring at Ranger leave...with hearts in her eyes! I stomped my foot and it brought her attention back to me. "Foot went to sleep..." I explained half heartedly at her questioning face.

Then she went back into evil, angry Stephanie again and put hands on hips. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Tell you……..?"

"That we USE to date?"

Oh great. She found out. I rolled my eyes. "When exactly would have been the best time? When you were kicking me in the balls, telling me you didn't like me or parading around with Ranger?"

She reclined back as if she'd been hit and then frowned. "Wh…" I had her. She didn't know what to say. I had won. I made sense, after all. So, of course, she'd change the subject. Three…two.…one… "Me hanging with Ranger has nothing to do with it."

Close enough. She successfully took the focus off the actual argument and transferred it to another target I had included. Smart, sweet, predictable Steph. "You two have gotten close?"

"It's none of your business."

"And that attitude encouraged me to omit the piece of information about our dating history."

Stephanie locked eyes with me and then rolled them. "Whatever. The point is; you should have told me."

"Would it have made a difference?"

"Yes…I mean…no..I mean…I don't know!" She sighed, ran a hand through her hair and shrugged. "I guess not."

"Exactly." I smiled lightly. "The Stephanie _I_ know loved me. The Stephanie you are now…hates my guts."

"Can you blame me?"

Sadly, I couldn't. But that's only because she hadn't seen my good side. She doesn't know how much I've grown and matured. "Give me a chance." I told her softly. "To show you how much I've changed from the Joe _you_ remember."

She stared at me, considered it, shrugged and then said with a smile, "Fine, _Joe_. You'll get your chance."

YES. SCORE. Haha. After I was done, she wouldn't think twice about Ranger. Joe Morelli, you are the man.

* * *

It was time for lil 'ol Joe to step his game up! Let the battle for Stephanie's love begin!


	9. Chapter Eight

* * *

**_Chapter Eight_**

* * *

"Did Morelli drop you off AGAIN?"

I nodded absently to Connie and sat down slowly on the brown couch. I was only vaguely aware of two sets of eyes on me. The women exchanged confused glances and then continued to stare at me.

"By the way, I know what you two were trying to _hide_." I offered them a flicker of a glare. "About Morelli and my _'past'_."

They only smiled sheepishly in their defense. I sighed and fiddled with my fingers for a second, tracing the curves and crevasses on my hand slowly while humming. I know, I should have been doing some work but I wasn't concentrating on that at the moment. Which, considering my overdue apartment bill, was going to hurt me in the long run.

"Hey," I blurted out, breaking the silence while turning to stare at the women. "You guys both know Ranger and Morelli, right? Like...know _know_?"

"Are you suggesting we did the nasty with them?" Lula blinked.

"NO! I mean like...do you know their personalities?"

"Aw." Lula frowned. "I kinda liked it when you thought we was doing the nasty."

"I never-" I paused, shook my head, ignored it and forged on. "So, do you?" I was staring at Connie now because Lula was turning out to be little help in my quest. What exactly was I questing for, you ask? Why, knowledge. Knowledge on the two men who, supposedly, were involved in my pre-amnesia life one way or the other.

"Not very good but sure, I know them a little." Connie suddenly squinted her eye at me suspiciously. "Why..? What happened? What they'd do?"

On nothing, just send me spiraling into the deep end of my own, uncontrollable hormones. "Nothing. I just...." I paused, puffed up my cheeks and thought about how I wanted to phrase this next sentence.

"You just....?" Connie and Lula leaned forward, foreheads almost touching. It occurred to me that neither of them rarely ever did any work. Psh, I couldn't talk though.

"If you had to choose, who would you pick? Morelli or Ranger?"

Silence.

"Morelli."

"Ranger."

I stared wearily at them while they slowly turned to lock wide, shocked eyes on each other.

"You'd choose Ranger?" Lula asked, gaping.

"You'd choose Morelli!?" Connie countered, furrowing her eyebrows. "I thought you hated cops!"

"I do but he's worth an exception." The big boned, black woman put hands on hips. "You never told me you had a crush on Ranger. Why, aint that sweet."

"I-I do not!"

"You don't have to cover it up. Everyone has a crush on him. I blame his face." And his body...and his hair...and his shower gel....

Connie was blushing and rolling her eyes in a sad attempt to conceal the red in her cheeks. "Whatever." Then she swung her eyes back on me. "Why'd you want to know that anyway?"

I shrugged; trying to play if off. "Just curiosity."

But they weren't buying it. Obviously, they knew me well enough to see past my act. Either that or I was _still_ a horrible liar. "Don't tell me you're confused again."

"Again?" I blinked.

Lula sighed and shook her head. "You've been wishy washy on them forever. Frankly, I'm sick of it. I say just choose them both. Threesomes are always fun, right?"

I grimaced at the thought. Seeing Morelli and Ranger naked? That'd be fine. But seeing them naked in the same bed.....Well hell, that'd be pretty fine too. That might actually be a little hot....

"You're picturing it aren't you? Your face is all lala land. I would know. I pictured it too."

I rolled my eyes at Lula and laid my head back on the couch. "Now by wishy washy...you mean...that I've been in a relationship with _both_ of them?" It was a hard idea to fathom. I mean, learning that Morelli had been my boyfriend was one thing but Ranger? He didn't strike me as that type. Then again...I could be a wrong. I was a pretty bad judge of character anyway.

Lula only shrugged. "You two flirted a lot and I suspect _something_ happened."

Yeah well suspecting wasn't enough for me. Suspecting was like guessing and I never guessed correctly. I pushed that thought to the back of my mind. I'd bring that up with man of mystery later on. And if he told me we had, I'd kick him in the balls. Not because I'd be angry at the _idea_ but because I'd be angry that he had omitted the info. Which reminded me; why hadn't I kicked Morelli in the balls?

"Okay, scratch everything. My past, my involvements with them, fights, whatever. Put it all aside." I lifted my head to stare at them and asked seriously, "Who do you think I'm better off with?"

"Forgetting your earlier relationship with Morelli?" Connie asked.

"Yep. Forgetting _everything_ else. As though it's my first time meeting them." It kinda was, actually.

The women exchanged looks.

"Ranger."

"Morelli."

I groaned and hung my head in exasperation.

"What!? She's better off with Morelli!" Connie exploded, throwing her hands in the air.

"How so?" Lula frowned.

"'Cause he's more reliable, down to earth and marriage material."

"Psh, yeah right. She always fights with Morelli, he's the jealous type and although his butt is fantastic, he's sneaky looking."

"But you just said you'd pick him if you had to choose!"

"Yeah, FOR ME but not for Stephanie!" Lula fumed angrily. "Oh you just want her to choose Morelli because you want a go at Ranger!"

"Wh-W-What!? I do not!"

"Yes huh!"

I rubbed at my temples and wondered if I had any ice cream in my fridge.

"Well what would Ranger offer her?"

"He's strong, sexy and dark. What more can one girl ask for?"

Shit, I _didn't _have ice cream in my fridge, did I? Because my freaking kitchen was close to empty.

"He's also very secretive, dangerous and has been through some rough things in his past. I don't have anything against the guy but I'm telling you, I don't think he's the best choice at the moment."

"But YOU'D pick him!"

"FOR ME but not for Stephanie!" Connie mimicked back.

Looks like I'd be mooching off my parents tonight. With that in mind, I left the two women to their heated argument, walked outside and headed towards my car.

I froze half way there when I realized _I didn't have a car_.

Options, options.

I didn't want to bother the women while they duked it out. They were out.

Morelli claimed he'd be busy most of the day but that he'd call me for some sort of 'date' he had planned. Joe was out.

So we all know who that left.

I sighed, dug out my cell phone, spent a good few minutes clicking through my contacts before I finally found it.

"Yo." Not only did he answer on the first ring but he greeted with a comfortable yet not too professional slang term. Impressive.

"Carlos." I have no idea why I used his actual name. Temporary insanity? Sudden bravado? An ache to pronounce it? Who knew!

He was silent for a beat. "Stephanie." He matched my flat tone. "You must be mad at me."

"Why do you think that?"

"In the past, you only used my name when you were mad."

"Oh....Well, I'm not, I just wanted to....I can quit if you-"

"No, I like it when you say my name." Whew. HOT FLASH. "Is there something you wanted?"

"Car." I croaked out through my dry throat. "I need a lift."

"No Morelli?"

I bristled slightly at his tone. It didn't sound jealous, it sounded....suggestive. "Are you going to come and get me or not?"

Silence.

"Fifteen minutes."

Then he hung up.

I stood gaping at the phone for a full minute. Fifteen minutes for what!? Until he arrived? Until he got off of work? Until he picked me up? Until he stabbed a man in his sleep? What was that statement supposed to tell me!

Fifteen minutes later a dark, sleek SUV came sliding into the bonds office parking lot. I stood up from my spot on the curb, where I had seethed madly about Ranger's words and calmed. Fifteen minutes until he arrived apparently.

I waltz over to the truck, opened the passenger side door and slid in. "It's about time-" I trailed off when my eyes landed on the man behind the passenger seat and my eyes widened.

He was a big man. With lots of muscles and tattoos and scars and dark clothes. His head was clean shaven, his face harbored a slight goatee and he was smiling gently.

"You're not Ranger." Definitely not.

He stuck out his hand and said, in the most Australian accent I had ever heard (Which isn't _that_ impacting since this was my first time hearing one), "Ranger's busy. He sent me to pick you up. Name's Rebel."

I shook his hand and nodded politely. I glanced down, spotted the Rangeman tag on his front shirt and frowned. While he drove out of the lot, I couldn't help but feel abandoned.

The little asshole was flaking out on me.

"You look mad." Rebel stated, glancing at my warily.

"Your boss is a douche."

He smiled. "I've only worked for him for a few weeks but he doesn't fancy me as the douche type." Man, his accent was cool.

"You should try spending time with him."

Rebel smirked. "You give off the impression of being allured by my boss."

I stared at him wide eyed, my cheeks flaming hotly. "I-I-What makes you think that?"

"There's a certain fire in your eyes when you talk about him."

I hmphed, folded my arms across my chest and snorted. This guy didn't know what he was talking about. There was no fire in my eyes and even if there was, it hadn't appeared for Ranger.

I gave Rebel a side long glance, turned when he looked at me, blew out a sigh and made a mental note to wash my eyes when I got home.

That'd flush out all the flames.

* * *

Weird ending to a chapter and it was short; I know. Sorry. I just wanted to get this out before I head to the clinic. More very soon. Hope you all enjoyed this latest installment. Leave me reviews and let me know, love ya!


	10. Chapter Nine

* * *

**_Chapter Nine_**

* * *

Unlike Ranger, Rebel was a friendly, talkative dinosaur. He laughed, cracked jokes and _smiled_. A real smile, that is. Not a twitch of the mouth or a slight smirk. This bald, Australian was actually pretty cool. Which, I must admit, caught me off guard. I figured that everyone who worked for Rangeman were like the boss.

Good thing they weren't.

Still though, when he dropped me off at my parent's house and suggested to call him if I needed anymore help, I couldn't help but continued to feel that nagging dejection sensation in the back of my brain. I _know_. Ranger bailing out shouldn't have bothered me so much and it wasn't even that big of a deal. I mean, he was a grown man and he had things to do, a job he was actually good at and liked. He didn't have time to babysit me all the time.....right? Yet something, _something outrageous I suppose_, kept telling me that he had sent Rebel not because he was actually busy but because he was angry at the prospect of Morelli spending time with me and was, indirectly, angry at _me_.

Weird thoughts, huh? It's not like I went home with Joe. Jeez. He just drove me to the bonds office. And Ranger was the one who left me with him!

I shrugged off my peculiar musings and focused on the task at hand: mooching off my mom and her cooking.

"You haven't been shot at yet." My mom's way of greeting I suppose. I froze with furrowed eyebrows. Did I usually get shot at!? Before I could ask, my mom ushered me in and closed the door. She looked pretty happy for some unknown reason. Almost glowing.

I shot my dad the peace sign and a 'Hey' which he returned with a grunt and a thumbs up. Probably the longest conversation I've ever had with my father.

My mom dragged me into the kitchen and I started to take a seat but paused abruptly at the sight before me. My eyes widened slightly.

"Look who it is, Stephanie." Grandma Mazur said, eyeing the man in the chair next to her.

He grinned, stood up and held his arms out to me. "Cupcake."

"Morelli." I strained out.

"Joe tells us that you guys are picking up exactly where you started off before you got amnesia." My mom was saying, stirring something in a pot. I gasped and turned to glare at him. All he did was shrug in his defense. "Is that true?"

I opened my mouth to protest but was soon wrapped in Morelli's arms and he was squeezing me hard enough to alter my words. "Just roll with it." He whispered in my ear.

"No way." I strained out in a hoarse tone, pushing him away from me. "How dare you lie to my mom."

"What else was I suppose to do? She nearly put the words in my mouth."

I turned to blink at my mom who was still talking. "-And I think it's just the sweetest thing that could have happened. I'm glad the accident hasn't changed the way you see him. I thought it would but I guessed wrong. Oh, this is just great."

While I stared at the woman who had birthed me, I sighed. Now that I thought about it, I could see where Morelli was coming from. He probably hadn't even acknowledged our relationship yet somehow, she managed to come up with the notion we were together again out of thin air. Which made me think that she must have really liked me with Joe.

I wonder if my family knew Ranger.....

"Speaking of that," My mom turned to glance at me. "Dr. Ray called today. He told me to tell you that he'd like to see you tomorrow."

My heart skipped. "Is something wrong?"

"He just wanted to see how you were."

Not good! I still didn't have my memory back but...was that such a bad thing? 'Cause wouldn't that mean I'd be with..._gulp_...Joe? Wait, was_ that_ such a bad thing?! I bit my lip.

"I'm sure everything's fine." My mom motioned outwards. "Now run along. Joe tells me he has a big dinner planned. I wouldn't want to hold him up."

I raised my eyebrows at him.

He grinned. "Now that, I did say. You said I could show you how I've changed." _Damn it, I had_. Great. I'd have to go.

"I wish a man would cook for me." Grandma Mazur grumbled. "And not T.V dinners either. I mean a big feast of a dinner. That'd be a pip. Men who cook are hot what with their aprons and whatnot. I don't like the aprons to be pink though. That's a little too girly." She looked at Morelli. "You don't wear pink aprons do you?"

"I don't wear aprons."

"That's good. For a second there, I worried you might be gay."

I blew out an exasperated sigh and turned to stare painfully at Joe. He was just smiling and shaking his head. I blinked in surprise at his reaction. He could tolerate my family? Either he covered up his annoyance or had been over so many times that he immune to their hazard antics.

Joe and I said goodbye, shuffled out of the my parents house and when we were outside, he draped an arm around my shoulder.

"You really know how to cook?" I asked.

I watched his mouth curve into a smirk and he leaned over to whisper in my eye. "Nope. I was just planning on calling in a pizza."

I rolled my eyes and slid into the passenger side of his car. "How romantic."

**********

"Stephanie meet Bob. Bob...well, he knows you already."

I guessed that. Because at the moment, Bob who was big, furry and orange was on top of me and licking my face with his sloppery tongue. Either it was a bear, a wolf or a dog. Maybe a mix of both, I'm not sure. Morelli hefted him off of me and I sat up, wiping off all the drool.

"Bob missed you."

I moaned. I didn't have much experience with dogs. Hamsters like my Rex were much easier to manage. They ate less, craved less attention and best of all, they didn't jump on top of you. I think Bob cracked a few of my ribs.

Morelli helped me to my feet and motioned around. "My crib. I keep the beer in the fridge, condoms in my room and torture chamber in the basement."

"You're not making the best impression."

He only grinned.

I ignored him and started to inspect the house. It was pretty nice. Actually, it was beautiful. Soft, quaint, comfortable and a few blocks down from the burg where my parents lived. All in all, it was a place I hadn't expected Morelli to own, buy or live in for that matter.

He caught my look. "My Aunt Rose gave it to me."

"It's pretty."

"But you haven't seen the best part." He took my hand and led me into the living room. With a dramatic sweep of his hands, he said, "There it is."

I rolled my eyes at his over exaggerated actions, turned and froze. My eyes bugged out and my jaw dropped.

"Close your mouth cupcake, you're drooling."

My eyes were locked onto the mighty huge, long and wide big screen T.V placed precariously in the far wall of the room. Among all the other tiny furniture, it looked completely out of place. I wanted to cry. I couldn't afford a television like that. I could barely afford a chair.

"Panasonic 103-inch plasma. The biggest big screen in existent. I've been saving for it my entire life. Or you know....since I've heard about it. Just got it installed a day or two ago. Around the same time you fell out of a tree." He walked over to it and fondly touched the screen. "This baby cost more than my car, this house and probably every other house and car in the city. Combined."

It was beautiful. "How-How'd you afford it!?" There was no way he made big bucks being a _Trenton_ cop.

"A few favors, some extra shifts, robbery, bank accounts, stolen identities, trust funds." I was pretty sure he was joking from his smirk. He grabbed my hand and guided me to the couch. "Check this out." He hit a button on the remote and the T.V blinked on. "Do you see that!? Picture in picture!"

I smiled at his giddy expression as he stared at the T.V, unblinking and thought he looked cute like that. A little kid in a grown up body.

He glanced at me. "What?"

"Nothing."

"You're smiling at me."

"I can't smile?" I turned away to hide biting my lip. "Are you going to order the pizza or not?"

Suddenly, his fingers were under my chin and he was turning my head to stare into his eyes. "I like when you smile at me."

I tried to form a sentence to get me out of this situation but nothing was coming out. I was frozen under his gaze and...I kind of liked it.

Then he leaned forward, ran a finger up my arm and closed his eyes. I knew were this was going. He was going to kiss me.

I took a deep breath, closed my eyes and leaned into him too.

_Oh man, I wanted this to happen!_

_*********_

_Morelli_

Now, I've kissed Stephanie a lot of times beforehand but I don't remember her being this........wet. And not the good kind of wet either. This was nasty, sloppy wet.

I opened my eyes and found myself staring into the eyes of Bob.

He had squeezed himself in between us, his mouth was on mines and he was panting. My eyes widened, my heart stopped and I felt like I'd blow chunks.

That was the last thing I remember before everything went black.

When I came to, Stephanie was staring down at me with worried eyes. I groaned and sat up. "What happened?"

"You kissed Bob."

I felt my head get woozy again and closed my eyes, breathed in and exhaled out loudly. "Then what?"

"Then you passed out."

Ahh. I got to my feet and rubbed my head. I could see Stephanie out of the corner of my eye. She was smiling. "It's not funny."

"I'm not laughing." She strained out with a stifled chuckle. I sighed, rolled my eyes, told her I'd be back and went upstairs to brush my teeth. Bob was _not _the best kisser.

*********

_Stephanie_

I guess kissing a dog is a turn off for men because when Morelli came back down, he kept his distance from me. We ordered pizza, ate it while watching a game on the deluxe big screen and then he drove me home. End of date. Not that spectacular but hey, you couldn't go wrong with pizza. Although I wouldn't have minded if he had tried to kiss me again...

I thunked myself on the head with the heel of my hand while I took the steps to my apartment. UGH. Great. Great. Great! I've already established I was both attracted and was falling for Joe but this was different. I hadn't _wanted_ to but in the course of almost kissing him, watching his T.V, playing with his dog and sitting on his couch, I had pictured what my life _had_ been like with him.

Calm, comfortable, safe, stable. The perfect atmosphere for someone as laid back as me.

I shook my head and fumbled in my purse for the key to my apartment. I just needed to clear my mind. I wouldn't think about men or my irrational thoughts or the doctor's appointment I had tomorrow. I'd just concentrate on getting some sleep and somehow bringing in a 'FTA' tomorrow for some cash.

But, of course, my plan was ruined. Because as soon as I opened my door and stepped inside, I knew I wasn't alone. That didn't keep me from squealing and stumbling backwards however when a shadow appeared before me. I tripped, caught myself and grabbed the door handle to keep steady.

"Babe."

My eyes blazed at Ranger. Stupid, arrogant, annoying, clever, sexy, confident Ranger. In his usual attire of black shirt, black cargo pants and dark boots. I could see the hint of a smile hovering over his lips.

"Damn it! You like scaring me, don't you!? Idiot.." I muttered, throwing my purse onto the couch and stomping angrily past him to the kitchen. He followed without a word. "And how the HECK do you keep getting in!? You don't have a key, do you!?" I swirled to glare at his pockets.

"I have magic hands." I could hear the amusement in his tone.

Pff. I rolled my eyes and peeked at Rex. He was running on his wheel. I trailed my eyes to his food dish and saw that it was full with celery and hamster nuggets. I furrowed my eyebrows. "Did you feed Rex?"

"He looked hungry."

I slowly turned to squint suspiciously at him. He only stared. With my eyes locked on his, I slowly moved to open the cabinets and look inside. They were full of food. I opened my fridge. Full too. Ranger had stocked up my whole house. "You _bought_ me food?"

"It took me longer than I thought." Ranger walked over to peer inside the fridge and cabinets behind me. "I tried to get everything you liked but...well Babe, you don't eat good so I picked out a few different things."

A FEW!? I stared incredulously at the pears, bananas, apricots, cole slaw, brown rice, low fat yogurt, skim milk, granola bars, cans of vegetables, water, tuna and other things I couldn't extinguish. The only thing I spotted that _I_ would eat was the lone ham.

"You eat like this?"

He nodded.

"EVERYDAY!?"

"Everyday." He agreed.

I gaped. Wow. He must have really believed in that temple jazz. "Well, I'd rather eat what I like and die than eat _this_ stuff and live."

"You'd feel better."

I doubt it. Cake and pie made me feel better. I blew out a sigh. Morelli had pizza and beer. Ranger had skim milk and wheat bread. Apples to Doughnuts on their eating habits. One point for Joe.

Yet it was the thought that counted, right? "You didn't have to buy this stuff, you know."

"I know." I felt him lean into me. "I'm a generous guy."

Yikes. My heart started to thump against my rib cage and I turned around slowly to stare at him. His eyes were heavy and dark and his lips were dangerously close. I mentally cracked my knuckles. I could see where this was going....Déjà vu. Bring it on. I was waiting for this. _Oh God, I was?_

But instead of leaning in to kiss me like Morelli did, Ranger changed direction and stepped back. I blinked up at him in confusion. "Day two on turn you into a kick ass bounty hunter begins tomorrow." He reached across the counter, opened my cookie jar and produced a gun from it.

I bugged out. "WHAT THE-? How'd that get there!?"

"It's always been there."

"WHY!?"

"Because you hate using it."

"So put it back!"

"Sorry." He checked the rounds and then set it down. "You'll have to get use to it again."

"I was use to it before!?"

"Not really. But it'd be good if you at least _tried_."

I eyed the steel monstrosity warily. I didn't _want_ to try. I wanted him to pick it back in the cookie jar so I could continue to overlook it like I'd done for the past few days. "I don't know...."

"Do you want money?"

"Of course-"

"Do you want to be good at your job?"

"Yeah but-"

"Do you want me to continue training you?"

"Yes! But I-"

"Do you want me to drag you into the bedroom, strip off your clothes and show you a night of extreme pleasure?"

"Ye-" I caught myself, turned wild eyes on him and my cheeks flamed. I tried to speak but the only thing that came out was a squeak.

Ranger was smiling. Not one of those smirks or ghost ones either. This was a full on, wide smile that was sending my heart knocking into my chest like it was about to explode. "I almost had you." And before I knew it, he was kissing me.

There was only one word to explain a kiss shared with Ranger and that one word was: _Yesssssssssssssss_.

When he pulled away, my head was spinning, my breathing was labored and my lips were swollen.

"Eight o'clock tomorrow. I'm taking you to the shooting range." Then he was off. Out the room, out the door, into the elevator. I stood there for a good minute or two, trying to figure out what the hell had just happened. I brought a hand to my lips and couldn't help but smile. Ranger certainly knew how to kiss. Ten points for him.

I went to my window and watched the dark, shiny car slide out of the lot and disappear down the road. As I stared down, I found myself thinking about what a life with him would be like.

Explosive. Erratic. Intense. Completely different from Morelli.

Morelli was calm, composed and handsome. He owned a dog, ate pizza for dinner, lived in a comfortable house and wore his heart on his sleeve for the most part.

Ranger was silent, strong and sexy. He probably carried around guns, ate herbs and was full of secrets.

But who was better for me? Who did_ I_ like more? UGH! Why did I care!?

I hit my head on the glass but then groaned and rubbed at the offending spot. Jeez, if I continued like this then I might pass out. My eyes lit up. Wait! Maybe if I hit my head hard enough, I'd get my memory back! Yes! Then I wouldn't have worry about all this mumbo jumbo.

Instead of following through with that plan however, I just went to sleep.

I might try it tomorrow. When I was being awaken at eight to go shoot guns


	11. Chapter Ten

* * *

CHAPTER TEN

* * *

_Ranger_

"You're the only person I know who's wide awake at eight am."

That didn't surprise me. Not many people could work as efficiently as I did up in the morning. Call it a gift. As for Stephanie....well, she was never an early bird. Her eyes were barely open, she was still as a statue and I think she had drifted to sleep. _She_ was the only person I knew who could fall asleep while wearing protective goggles and holding a loaded gun in her hand.

I shook my head, reached for a clip from my spot behind her and threw it at her head. It hit the mark, bounced off but all Stephanie did was snort.

"Five more minutes, mom."

I hefted myself out of the chair, walked behind her and nudged her awake. "You're supposed to be shooting."

"I can't keep my eyes open. I want coffee."

"I already _gave_ you coffee."

"I want more!"

Holding back a sigh and an eye roll, I said, "After wards, I'll get you all the coffee and sugary desserts you like." And before she could continue to whine, I leaned up behind her, brought my arms to align with hers and guided her to the proper shooting position. "Bring your foot back a little more...there you go. See? Not too hard. Now just aim....and....shoot."

She pulled the trigger and the force of it smashed her into my chest. I froze.

"Oh my god, look! I hit it!" She rejoiced happily, smiling. "Look! Look, Ranger! Are you looking? Did you see!?"

I saw something alright. I could see down her shirt from here. And I could feel her ass pressing against a certain area below my waist.

"Was that a good shot!?"

"Of course." I purred lowly. I wasn't sure what I was agreeing too. Hell, she could have asked me if I was homosexual or not and I would have said yes. Although, quite obviously, I'm not. Especially not right now while I was contemplating three things: How I was going to get her out of her clothes in the next five minutes, if the guys on surveillance duty watching and if the tile floor would be too rough on her.

"Let's do it again!"

"We haven't done anything yet, Babe."

She blinked. "What?"

"Nothing."

"Are you paying attention to me?"

"A little too much, I'm afraid." I stated in a low growl, releasing my hold on her and taking a step back. This was no time to let my animal urges get the best of me. I was doing this to make a good impression. To show her that I wasn't all brawn and secrets. Jumping on her wasn't going to help.

I saw her body stiffen and I heard her exhale sharply. "Co-could you show me how to shoot one more time?"

I stood stoic for only a second before siding back up to her again. She relaxed into me and my common sense was replaced by my inner demon: _Let the beast out_.

"Gladly." I muttered softly.

**********

_Stephanie_

"Are you steady?"

"Y-yeah."

Damn it, no I wasn't. Suddenly, I was all too aware of Ranger's presence. He was pressed into my back, our arms were touching and he was talking into my ear. Who could be steady!? I could feel the sturdiness of his chest, the muscles in his arms, the almost primal, masculinity he was giving off and it was driving me _insane_.

Did I already mention he smelt fantastic!? Damn that Bulgari shower gel.

"Good. Now aim..." He brought my arms upwards and I closed one eye. "And....shoot." I pulled the trigger, slammed back into Ranger's chest and it went sailing. I heard Ranger swear and didn't get to see if I hit or missed because I was suddenly twirled around.

I couldn't even get a word out before Ranger pulled me to him and lowered his lips to mines. _Second kiss!_ My mind squealed happily. _Second, delicious kiss!_ It occurred to me then that sense yesterday, I _wanted_ him to kiss me again. That realization propelled me forward and I wrapped my arms around his neck before deepening it. I felt his hands roam my thighs and he slid them under my butt, lifted me up, carried me to the desk and set me down on it while sliding off the objects on it all in one swift movement.

I broke away only to lean back on it and pulled him to me by his collar. He started to crawl on top of me, all the while sending butterfly kisses along my neck and face. I grabbed the bottom of his shirt and was well on my way to plucking it off before a phone started to ring.

We both froze. I watched Ranger slowly glanced down at his pocket, narrow his eyes and then hang his head. He retrieved his phone and, by the look on his face, I suspected he already knew who it was. I started to push away but his hand came out and held me in place. He listened to whoever was on the other line while keeping his eyes firmly on me and then offered me the phone.

I blinked.

"It's the guys." He said with a hint of anger. "They want to say hi."

I blinked again.

"Wave at the camera."

I slowly craned my neck around and glanced up at the camera that Ranger had indicated.

"They're watching us."

My eyes widened when the cold realization hit me. "You mean-?" I gasped. "They saw everything?" I whispered in horror.

Ranger only stared. I closed my eyes and covered my face with my hands to hide my deep blush.

"Hi _Stephanie_!" Came the amused, manly greeting from the speaker phone. I groaned. Ranger clicked it off and shut it. Luckily enough, _my_ phone rang and I used that as an excuse to plop down on the ground and walk a bit away to take the call. From the corner of my eye, I could see Ranger watching me. He didn't look too happy but he didn't look embarrassed either. UGH. I wish_ I_ could act like him. I'm sure all the blood in my body was pooling in my head. I scolded myself while I fished for my phone in my pocket. I was never that aggressive! What came over me? _Ranger did_. That was a good enough excuse, right?

"Stephanie?" My mom. "Sweetie, you do remember your appointment with Dr. Ray today, don't you?" Nope, I hadn't but now I did. "It's at Nine. Don't be late."

Nine? I thanked her, said bye and hung up. Who'd scheduled appointment at NINE? Nine was early. Nine was sleep time. Jeez, Dr. Ray must have been in cohorts with Ranger. Speaking of him...

I turned to see that he was shooting the camera dirty looks and signs that could only mean he'd behead his employees. I didn't know them too well but I suspected that the Rangeman crew would be in deep shit later on. He instantly went still when he saw me looking and I waltzed over to him.

"Sorry to cut the training session short but I have a doctor's appointment." I snuck a glance at the camera and sighed. "They enjoy the peepshow?"

Ranger looked like he wanted to roll his eyes. "Immensely."

I raised my eyebrows. "If you knew they were watching then why did you..." I stopped and bit my lip. That wasn't what I wanted to ask. I breathed in and started over. "Why'd you kiss me?"

He stared at me for a long time. So long, in fact that I didn't think he'd supply me with an answer. "I let my urges get the better of me."

I...didn't really know how to take that so I just got angry. What did that mean? He had no other urge than to get in my pants? Another thought popped into my head and I squared my shoulders. "Okay, I want it straight, no avoiding, no lying, no anything." His eyes bored into mines. "Were we romantically involved at any point in my pre-amnesia life?" I dared him to lie to me. To say that we hadn't been. I knew we had. I could _feel_ it. There's no way he'd be kissing me if we hadn't.

"Yes."

"Don't lie to me! I know you're lying! We-" I stopped and blinked. "Wait, what'd you say?"

"We weren't romantically involved as in a relationship but we _did_ have one. It just wasn't established."

"Why not?"

"There were obstacles in the way."

"Such as...?"

He stared. "Morelli, for one."

I mulled that over for a bit while I chewed on my bottom lip. I went back and did a full scan on the situation: I had been dating Morelli, Ranger somehow came into my life and we got close and......."So what exactly _were_ we to each other?"

Ranger smiled. It wasn't full on, it wasn't amused, it wasn't sarcastic. It was wry. "Babe, I can't even tell you."

"Well....I'm not dating Morelli now."

His eyes widened slightly. "What do you mean?"

"As far as I know, Morelli and I aren't together. We might have been but are definitely not now." It was true. You couldn't hold me accountable for being involved with a guy I barely knew, right? Then again, wasn't I hinting at something with Ranger? UGH. My head hurt.

"What are you trying to tell me?"

"I guess what I'm trying to say is," I smiled and cocked my head to the side. "Morelli's no longer an obstacle so you'll have to make up better excuses. But I advise you, if you want me," I started to move past him. "Stop hesitating. Unless, of course, you're a man of the chase."

I saw him stare at the ground. "You shouldn't have told me that."

"Told you what?"

"To stop hesitating."

"Why not?"

"I'm having more urges."

"Good." I said, heading for the door. "Then maybe you'll act on them again." I have no idea where my sudden bravado was coming from or my words. Something...and I don't know what, but something was just telling me to go for it. Something was telling me to take a chance on Ranger. It wasn't that big of a deal was it? I mean...it wasn't like we'd get married. I....I was just so intrigued by his persona. I wanted..._needed_ to know more.

"My urges aren't always good." I heard him call. "Ninety nine percent of the time; they backfire. My urges can be fatal."

I sensed that he was hinting at something much deeper but decided not to acknowledge it at the moment. I glanced at my watch, turned and smiled slightly. "What doesn't kill us just makes us stronger."

Ranger turned to stare at me. His eyes were narrowed in disbelief and his mouth was curved into a smirk.

"Now are you going to stand there gaping or are you going to take me to my appointment?" I asked impatiently, tapping my foot to heighten the image. "Hurry up. I need to go, Mr. Man in black."

"Babe."

**********

_Ranger_

Was I hearing correctly? Had Stephanie just gave me an invitation to pursue her?

I tried to hide my smile while we loaded into my car and drove out of the lot. What did that mean? She'd given up on Morelli? She liked me more? I should have continued what had been started and not answered the phone?

She started to fiddle with the radio and I felt something foreign in my chest. A warm..fuzzy feeling. A feeling I didn't like all that well but one that I didn't hate.

"By the way, what's your last name?"

I cut my eyes to her. "Are we back on questions now?"

"You never said I had to _stop_." She shot me a grin.

"Manoso."

"Cute."

"Cute?" I chuckled. "I was hoping you'd say mind blowing sexy."

"If it makes you feel any better, I think _you're_ mind blowing sexy."

That made me feel a tad bit better, yes. We drove the rest of the way in silence. Mostly because there was nothing left to _say_. There was an offer lying out there in the air and as soon as I had the time, I'd reach for it, grab it and take it. If Stephanie didn't want anymore hesitation then so be it. I was done with Mr. Nice guy because, apparently, it didn't help me. Then again, I had never really succeeded at the whole nice thing. The only thing that might have been classified as polite was my ability to hold off for so long.

We arrived at the hospital a few minutes after wards. I slid into a space and watched her unbuckled her seat belt.

She turned to me. "You'll be here when I come out, right?" Her face was placid enough but I could see the worry underneath. She wanted me to stay.

"Unless something more important comes up." I smiled.

"Oh wow, you're cracking jokes now? Watch out. You might hurt yourself."

"You're not the only one who can flip the script."

She rolled her eyes and got out. Before she closed the door, I heard her mutter, "Men."

**********  
_Stephanie_

By the time Dr. Ray actually arrived, I had been sat in the waiting room for a hour, sat in a hospital room for a hour, sat in another room for a hour, taken away to another room, sat on the bed for a hour, been prodded and examined by nurses and was feeling pretty furious. Hospitals. UGH. I hated them and their exaggerated antics. This should have been in and out. Sort of like a quickie.

My mind was brought back to Ranger at the idea and I laughed dryly. I was associating him with quickies now. Wasn't that _grand_? My words still buzzed around in my head. I was quite aware that my words must have encouraged him to be straight forward and, surprisingly enough, I think I wanted that. Morelli was an okay guy and yes, I was physically attracted to him but there was....just something, that _unknown_ factor, that continued to allure me to Ranger and I wanted to figure out what it was.

I rolled my eyes. Allure. Great. Rebel had been right. My eyes were probably ablaze at this very moment.

"Ah, Ms. Plum. So nice to see you again."

We did the nod, polite smile and hand shake that were reserved for doctors and patients and then he scrutinized the chart in his hand.

"You're vitals are perfect. Your test don't show any sign of severe brain damage. Your intellectual, motor and verbal skills remain in tact and your skin is regaining color." He raised his eyes to me. "It doesn't look like your on death row, Ms. Plum."

I smiled. I loved being healthy. Probably because I almost never was.

"But," Dr. Ray continued on, taking on a puzzled look. "I can't figure out why you haven't regained _any_ memory back at all."

I frowned.

"You haven't been having headaches, have you?"

I shook my head.

"Vision trouble? Eye pain?"

Another shake.

"Have you been surrounded by friends, family and locations that might have triggered something?"

I nodded.

"But still nothing?"

Third shake of the head.

"Nothing at all? Not even something small?"

A fourth shake. This one a little impatient and irritated.

"Hmm." He murmured lowly, tapping his pen against the clipboard. "Peculiar. I haven't seen such a mild case of amnesia last this long. Or, at least, not improve a bit yet. I suppose, if I may speculate, that maybe you might receive images in small bursts." He shook his head. "But some memories, I'm afraid, might never return."

I froze and my eyes widened. "Hold on....are you telling me I might NEVER remember the past few years?"

He nodded solemnly.

I considered that while twisting my mouth into a frown. In a way, that was bad. Real bad. I wouldn't remember friendships, parties and other happy times. But...on the other hand, it wasn't that bad. I mean, from the looks of it, my life sucked ass anyway so why would I _want_ to remember? Maybe something terrible happened and now I wouldn't have to recall it. That was pretty sweet. Maybe this could be my...uh...I don't know, second chance. Maybe I could do things differently this time around. Quit my job, sell my apartment, move away, go to Disneyland, adopt kids, travel the world, buy a girl hamster for Rex, bungee jump, marry Ranger, get a job as-

I gasped and put a hand to my mouth. I backtracked in my thoughts and highlighted on one thing in particular:** MARRY RANGER**. WHOA, now. Where had _THAT_ came from? I shook it off. Moment of insanity. Maybe in my own little dream world I could do those things but in my current position, I was stuck in Trenton in my ratty apartment with my dangerous job, crazy relatives, empty pockets, absence of a car and friendly men.

Well maybe the men thing wasn't that bad....

"Ms. Plum?" Dr. Ray had his eyebrows furrowed in concern. "Are you alright?"

I gave him a smile that was half real, half forced. "Yeah, I'm good."

"Do you have any questions you'd like to ask me?"

"Well uh...if my memory were to come back then would it replace the ones I've made already?"

"Oh no. It'd just fill in some of the blanks."

Ahh. I clicked my tongue. "So...I could do as I want without getting up one day and wondering what was going on?"

"Correct. The memory lapse has nothing to do with your mind right now." Dr. Ray smiled patronizingly and I didn't like it. "Why I've seen amnesia victims live blissfully happy without knowing or acknowledging what happened in their past or who was it."

I cringed. "Isn't that a little harsh? I mean, they could have at least tried to include people in the past. "

Dr. Ray leaned forward a bit and his black eyebrows rose. "You think so? They figured that whoever wanted to be in their life, past, present or future, would have made an effort."

I furrowed my eyebrows and pondered that statement for a second before saying, "Just one more question. You're a guy, right?" He gave me a weird look. "Oh uh…no, that wasn't the actual question. I'm just saying, from a guy's point of view....how would you react if......"

* * *

.....I'll have to wrap this up soon. Let me know what you think. Peace and Cranberyy juice, my friends.


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